Worth A Thousand Words
by AManwithaB0x
Summary: Two new students find themselves taking an art class together. One paints, the other draws. Will they get past their differences and find somthing special? Or will they just make a mess? Probably both. High School AU. White Rose, with other pairings included. (Second arc complete!)
1. The First Day: Red Side

**Author's Note: This is a modern-day AU set in a high school art class (well, mostly). I went ahead and wrote out both of the first two chapters at once to give each side of the first encounters you're about to follow. As this is an AU, expect the boys and girls to be a bit _out of character_ at times... I'll _try_ not to butcher too many of them. As the description says, this story will feature the White Rose pairing, albeit not for a while.  
**

 **Disclaimers: I don't own RWBY in any way. The school grading structure presented here is based on the American system in which high school is four years long and is made up of grades 9-12. Also students start the freshman year at the age of 14-ish. I guarantee no expertise in a lot of subjects,** _ **but**_ **Ruby's hobby and passion in this story just happens to be one I know a lot about.**

* * *

...

Oum High School was no different from the other four high schools in the county. It was large enough to accommodate the required number of students, it offered the same classes as the other schools, and it was close to the edge of town. Probably the only thing that set it apart was the fact that it was named after the man who started the town itself, and in his honor it featured a very tall lighthouse. It wasn't a proper working structure, but it did have a light at the top that glowed at night, giving the local residents a good landmark for traveling. Most of the students simply took to calling it The Beacon.

Ruby Rose was 14 years old, one year younger than the average sophomore (10th grader). This was mainly due to the fact that she had been skipped ahead just last year and had missed her freshman year entirely. This wouldn't have been so bad if not for the fact that she _also_ had to change schools at the last minute. All of her friends were going to Shawcross High on the other side of town, leaving her to enter the upper grades on her own. There would be no help from her older sister Yang either, since the blonde was in a ...rather _different_ situation than her own. Unlike Ruby, Yang had actually been _held back_ a year after 3rd grade (it had something to do with a long-term suspension following a big fight, which resulted in suffering grades). This meant that now, with an age difference of two years between them, Ruby and Yang were both in the 10th grade at the same school at the same time. Joy.

This is how Ruby now found herself staring up at The Beacon from the school's front gate, wishing she were _anywhere_ else. Also, it was _really_ freaking early in the morning. She yawned loudly, her jaw popping from the effort.

 _Suddenly Yang's need for a morning coffee isn't so weird after all..._ she thought with a groan.

She wore a solid black t-shirt and knee-length jean shorts, since it was still muggy from the late summer heat. She had on her usual black hiking boots and a cheap red department store backpack slung over one shoulder. Her short, dark red hair was styled into a spiky look, with longer portions hanging over the right side of her face. Her unusual silver-colored eyes, which were normally bright and full of life, were rather droopy in these early morning hours. She took a moment to stretch her arms over her head with a grunt before heading inside.

...

She took maybe ten minutes in line to get her new school schedule, and she was riddled with different emotions upon learning which classes would become her hour-long prison sessions.

Algebra-1 didn't sound so bad, since Ruby happened to be good with math.

Why in the _hell_ did she end up in 'Advanced' English?!

There was a sinking feeling when she noticed Biology-1 midway through the list. Science stuff was her weakness.

 _And I just KNOW I'm going to have a metric TON of homework by the time I get home. Yang probably will too..._ The redhead grimaced at the thought of the two of them getting home with equally overstuffed backpacks and sore backs.

The final class on her list brought a sparkle to Ruby's eye: _Art-1_. The only class she had been anticipating all summer. The fact that it was at the end of the day did little to dampen her spirits on the matter.

* * *

...

Ruby had only seen Yang two times today: before getting to school was the first one, and then she found herself taking the same Biology class during second period. This turned out to be both good _and_ bad in that Ruby had someone to talk to and ask questions, but it also meant that their step-sister relationship would likely be found out - and if Ruby had learned anything from her previous school, it's that teenagers loved to spread rumors and gossip. Yang didn't seem to mind that happening as much, but after a bit of prodding from Ruby she agreed to simply _not_ bring it up. There was less chance of it getting out that way.

And it _was_ pretty complex. Ruby and her mother (who had died five years ago) were mostly of a French descent (hence the family name Rose). Yang and her father were actually of Chinese descent (although you'd _never_ tell from looking), and Yang's father had married Ruby's mother just a few years before she died. This meant that Ruby was basically an orphan _and_ adopted at the same time. Needless to say this was rather difficult to explain to new people.

Anyway, on with the day.

World History was more fun than Ruby expected, but that was mainly due to the class' rather ... _unusual_ teacher. Ruby knew it would take her at least a week to get his name right, but he certainly stood out with his hyperactive nature and his green hair (which he _swore_ was his 5-year-old daughter's fault). The redhead found herself enthralled by the man's various stories, probably due to the fact that none of them lasted more than two minutes regardless of length.

Math and English proved a bit _boring._ It wasn't the subject, dear gods no, it was the _teachers_. Ruby had no idea a woman as good looking as Ms. Glynda Goodwitch could make one of her favorite topics so ...tedious. The man called Ozpin did almost _no_ teaching at all, preferring instead to have the students read out loud. For the entire class. ' _Advanced' English my ass,_ Ruby thought crossly.

Finally it was time for the last class of the day. Ruby stood just outside of the door to the Art Room, which was perfectly identical to all the other doors in the hallway, and took a deep breath. _This_ was what she had been looking forward to all day. _This_ was possibly the one subject she'd take with her for the rest of her life... _if_ life didn't throw her too many curve balls, that is.

She grabbed the door handle, released the breath she didn't know she'd been holding, and went inside.

* * *

...

The first thing she noticed was that there were actually _two_ art rooms that were separated by a small office with two doors, allowing full access between them. The room she was in, room 217, was the room for drawing, painting, and charcoal work. This was the Flat room, she'd later learn it was called. Peering through the large windows on either side of the small office, Ruby found that the other art room, 216, held taller desks and had numerous workstations around the edges. There were no projects in sight, but she noticed a few small tools that could be used to form a shape ...sculpting tools, maybe? _That_ room was apparently called the Clay room. Three guesses what they did in _there._

They had no teacher in their room at first, so Ruby and the few other students simply settled themselves into the seats of their choice, while she noticed that the 20-odd desks were arranged in a U-shape around an open central area. Within that area sat a circular, solid-looking box, almost like a stage, where Ruby imagined they'd see different subjects for their assignments waiting. Possibly a live model? She could only hope.

The redhead gazed around the room and took in the sights - two large cabinet units each on three of the four walls (a large desk for the teacher on the other one), a set of shelves with a large number of brightly colored paint bottles and various other artsy supplies, and a utility room sink in the corner. Ruby knew just enough about painting to know it was for rinsing the brushes off when you're done with them. She smirked as she thought of her beloved colored pencils. _No need to rinse THEM off after a good coloring, now is there? Buncha' suckers..._

Once she sat down, Ruby resigned herself to quietly waiting for their mystery teacher. She fought the urge to tap her fingernails on the smooth surface of the desk as she looked around, examining the faces of her new classmates. This was mainly a defense mechanism as the girl who had suddenly sat herself next to Ruby caused the girl to go into a mild panic attack... because _damn_ was she good-looking.

Anyway, there were eighteen students, twelve girls and six boys. Counting herself, there were four redheads, six blondes, and eight brunettes of varying shades (mostly dark brown). One of said brunettes had a really cool hairstyle - she had one large section of hair curled into a single bang that faded from dark brown to a lighter shade as it reached the tip. Ruby made a mental note to try and draw that into her next doodle. And there was one pony-tailed hairstyle that shone a brilliant platinum blonde just to her left, but Ruby was _really_ trying to _not_ look at it... lest she become unable to look away.

Okay, _focus_. The eye colors were quite random, with lots of blues and greens mixed in with a few browns. She counted eight pairs of eyeglasses on various faces, a few large and bulky and others slim and lightweight. Most likely there were a few contact lens wearers, but there was no way for her to tell _that._ Of course, there was also a pair of gorgeous ice-blue eyes just to her le- _Goddammit! I'm not here to stare, I'm here to draw!_

 _..._

Ruby had wanted to be a graphic designer (of _some_ kind) for most of her life by this point. Whether it be in the fashion industry or in web design, she knew she wanted a major career in art... but her pursuit of this hobby led to the unintentional discovery of her ... _unpopular_ sexual orientation. In shorter words, she found out that she might actually be gay by... drawing lots of girls. Good-looking girls. She was _really enjoying_ drawing lots of girls, some in sexy and kinky ways. Needless to say, she took _really freaking good_ care to keep those drawings from _ever_ seeing the light of day. As such, Ruby was confident that her ...preferences were safely tucked away in the closet (to be honest, she actually didn't like drawing guys, which gave her theory some credence). Her only daily struggle was to keep herself from staring at _real_ girls like she did her drawings. Whenever she _did_ stare, she always told herself it was for gathering reference material. Yeah, that's it. Just references.

But then Ruby had to find herself sitting next to the single most beautiful girl she'd ever seen. On top of that, she had no doubt that this girl was at _least_ a few years older. That would put her more in line with Yang's age group. By comparison, Ruby was still ...basically a kid. The phrase ' _out of her league'_ came to mind just then.

With her panic finally fading, she thought _The best I can hope for is that we can just be friends. That's all. Don't expect anything more than that!_

"Okay, this is officially ridiculous. Are we just going to sit here all class?" The mystery girl sounded a bit upset, her ponytail swaying as her head spun. Ruby looked at the clock and groaned... if they _did_ have a teacher coming, he or she was already fifteen minutes late. As she realized this, another thought occurred to her - the girl to her left sounded like she came from a very high-class, ... _prissy_ background. Likely a rich girl. But if that was the case, why was she in a public school...?

The girl with the cool brown hair from across the room spoke up next, answering the question, "I guess we just do study hall for now." Nearly all of the kids in the room wordlessly pulled out a book or magazine and quietly started reading.

Ruby was a bit downtrodden. Maybe she'd just gotten her hopes up? She was tempted to pull out her own sketch book and draw something, but resisted in the hope that maybe someone would show up and give them something to do. After almost five minutes, however, that hope seemed in vain. Even the girl next to her had pulled a book out for some reading, although her brow was furrowed in annoyance... and Ruby really, _really_ didn't want to start staring now of all times

Finally ready to admit defeat, she pulled up her bag, opened the zipper, reached in... and _then_ the door opened. Ruby gave an angry grunt.

"Sorry I'm late," a gravely male voice said, "they called me in a bit ... _last minute_." The man almost spat the last words, indicating that there was  no appreciation behind them. "Your _real_ teacher, Ms. Fall, had to run to the hospital for a family emergency. So you're stuck with _me_ for now."

Ruby took a moment to look over the new arrival. He stood rather tall and his black hair was mostly slicked back on his head save for a few large strands that hung over his brow. His face was a few days without a shave and his eyes were a dark shade of red. He wore a gray button-up shirt that was probably pulled out of his clothes hamper, along with a descent pair of black slacks.

"My name's Qrow, spelled with a 'Q'. I'll be your substitute for the next ...eh, _little while._ " There was a collective murmuring from the room, which the man took as some kind of greeting. He then looked around in a sort of ...confused state before walking to the corner of the room and grabbing a potted (fake) plant and setting it on the stage in the center. "This is an art class, right?" He pointed to the plant, "So, uh... draw that." He began walking back to the desk saying, "I don't care if it's just a scribble... draw something, put your name on it, and put it on the desk before the day's out. That's all _they_ need from me, anyway," he shrugged.

The man named Qrow sat down and promptly leaned back in the chair with his eyes shut. The students in the room looked around in stunned silence, unsure of what to do. Nobody seemed to want to move. Any form of energy that had been present before the man arrived was now gone.

Ruby was the first to stand up, not saying a word, and walk over to the supply shelf. She grabbed a sheet of paper from the large ream at waist level, grabbed a pencil from the nearby cup, and sat back down at her desk. The other kids slowly followed her example, grabbing their own paper and pencil and sitting down to work. Soon the light whooshing sound of graphite over parchment filled the room with it's whispers, punctuated by the occasional mutter of an eraser. Ruby smiled. She loved these sounds.

After several minutes the students began talking to each other in low tones, giving Ruby the sense that they thought of the classroom in the same sense as a library. She didn't listen to any of it. She continued drawing until the bell rang.

By the end of the class, the desk was newly decorated with simple pencil drawings of a sort-of potted plant. At least, _most_ of them were simple. Some were the scribbles Qrow was expecting, but others... well, he seemed to have at least _one_ overachiever in the class. Even though he only ended up giving them about 40 minutes to work, the girl called Ruby had done an impressive job by including a fair amount of shading. No one else had gone _that_ far. Hell, she even went out of her way to erase the smudges left by her hand as she worked.

Even though 'art' was not his strong suit, Qrow sensed that _this_ class might be kind of fun. Since he'd be stuck with them for a week or so, that would certainly help.

Ruby, however, could only head home thinking _I hope that class doesn't SUCK tomorrow._

 _..._

* * *

 **A/N: So** _ **that**_ **happened. This one might take a bit longer since I'm writing with a bit of my own experiences peppered into the mix. Just a bit, don't worry.**

 **I'm putting up the next chapter right away, so it** _ **should**_ **be ready to read for ya.** **  
**


	2. The First Day: White Side

**Author's Note: Okay, you saw the first day of school from Ruby's point of view... now it's time to follow the other half of the White Rose pairing.  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY in any way. I claim no expertise in matters of family wealth, German history, or social matters between high school girls. I'm making most of this up as I go along. Beyond that, I think you all know what to expect by now.**

* * *

...

According to her father, the Schnee family originated in the mountain ranges of Northern Germany. They were supposedly a legendary family of woodcutters, able to make anything from a fancy log cabin to a pair of wooden shoes with ease. After a long time, they moved down to the valley and began working in the blacksmith trade. Over the years they became known as the best metalworkers in all of Germany, and then all of Europe. It was a family legacy that was maintained to this very day with the Schnee Manufacturing Company, makers of the finest military vehicles and armaments in the world.

She had heard this story her whole life. Frankly, she was _sick_ of it.

The only reason she had gotten herself signed into this dismal excuse of a school was to piss off her old man, and boy did _that_ work. However, according to the family traditions (which the man simply _would not_ defy), Weiss was old enough to make her own decisions. As much as it pained him to think of his own flesh and blood settling for a mediocre existence, he had _no say_ in the matter. Weiss Schnee was going to Oum High School whether he liked it or not.

They did reach a compromise, though, in which he would not fight her any longer if she agreed to a single request: to continue working on her painting. It was the one passion they both loved and he truly wanted her to excel in it. She agreed to that term, making sure to apply to the school's art program. And now, in her sophomore year, Weiss was about to take a normal high school art class.

What's the worst that could happen?

* * *

...

Weiss Schnee walked into Oum High wearing a white button-up shirt over a light blue sleeveless blouse (with matching pumps) and a pair of Capri-length khaki pants. Her platinum blonde hair was done up in a simple ponytail high up on her head. Instead of the normal backpack like the other students used, Weiss had her belongings in a leather messenger bag slung over one shoulder.

As she waited in line for her schedule, she checked her wristwatch. Fortunately for her, the young Schnee had already done her research on the school and it's layout - all she needed was the room numbers and she could find her way around without a map.

First period: math. Gods what a bore. Weiss instantly noticed that only a handful of the kids in the class were actually paying attention to the lesson - the others were either falling asleep or staring at the teacher's boobs. She couldn't really blame them for _that_ , since the woman had her shirt unbuttoned a bit too far for decent taste. She would never admit it (unless she felt like it), but Weiss had _also_ gotten a good look at the expansive cleavage. Ms. Goodwitch _was_ a beautiful woman, after all.

Second period: world history. If not for her father's influence, Weiss would have actually enjoyed this class. As it was, learning the tales of other countries was quite low on her list of priorities. At least Doctor Oobleck was fun to watch. She wondered what sort of child would color her own father's hair such a sickly shade of green, especially if she knew he wouldn't wash it out at the first opportunity. On _that_ note, what kind of dad _leaves the color in?_ They must have an ... _interesting_ home life.

This led her to think of her own siblings. Her older sister, Winter Schnee, was currently enlisted in the Navy as a Chief Petty Officer. She was several years older than Weiss, but they chatted every chance they got. They were very close before she first shipped off, and Weiss always missed her. Whitley Schnee, Weiss' younger brother, was currently in the 7th grade. The two of them ...didn't really get along, actually. Not much else to tell. Her mother and father lived in their large, uptown mansion (although _they_ called it a 'house') which was taken care of by a squad of seven maids and one butler.

The other classes of the day blurred together somewhat for the teen. Nearly all of them were either boring or ...well, _more_ boring. Professor Port, the science teacher, was a gifted storyteller and experienced big game hunter, but he tended to get lost in his own stories and forget to actually _teach_ the class about the biology of the animals he was bragging about crushing with his bare hands. Mr. Torchwick didn't seem to know much about social studies, but he was probably the most _interesting_ man Weiss had ever heard. The only problem was that he could _never_ stay on one subject for long and ended up losing most of the students as he spoke.

By the last period, Weiss was drained of energy. The fact that the entire school was painted in such a dismal, monochrome gray was enough to crush her spirit all by itself. The large lighthouse building, fake thought it may be, at least added a point of interest to the campus. The final class of the day was sure to help lift her mood since it would give her what she needed most right then: She needed _color._

 _..._

Weiss had always loved painting, mostly due to her mother's influence. The woman often took the young Schnee to opulent art museums and grand halls lined with uncountable masterpieces from the greatest talents in history. They both loved it all - though Weiss only grew to love it because her mother was so enamored by it. Her father, Jacques, had been a skilled painter in his prime (possibly what got them together? Weiss could only guess). Once the girl expressed an interest, the old man immediately set out to get her the best teachers money could buy. It was one of the only times Weiss was grateful to be part of a rich family.

The problem was that all of the teachers he hired were only there to do one thing: teach her how to paint _their_ way. That was _not_ what she wanted.

As Weiss quietly walked along the busy hallway of the school, careful to avoid bumping the other students, she reflected on all of this. She also thought of all she had learned about the medium; the different types of paints, the brushes, the canvas, easels, blending techniques... for a kid in high school, knowing this much was certainly rare. She grinned as she stopped in front of the door, room 217, hoping her rather advanced skills would let her climb the social ladder quickly.

If there was one thing she made sure to keep as a Schnee, it was her pride.

* * *

...

The first thing she noticed was that she was one of the last students to arrive. Not _the_ last, but close enough. She counted over a dozen kids, mostly girls by the looks of it, all sitting in a U-shape formation of desks. The room was mostly a clean white with the occasional pop of purple and yellow in the decor (the cabinets and curtains, specifically). But it was _so much_ nicer in here than outside, mainly due to the air conditioning - it was still late summer conditions and rather muggy. Hair-murdering weather, as her sister once said.

There was no teacher in sight, which meant no seating chart. Weiss was already annoyed... and she hadn't even sat down yet. She quickly remedied _that_ issue as she took the chair next to a shorter teen with unusually dark red hair that was cut short in the back. The girl seemed to tense up when Weiss sat down, but the older teen soon ignored it as she studied the room. She spotted a decent collection of pre-stapled canvas panels in the corner, as well as the sizable collection of acrylic paints on the supply shelf. This, of course, caused her to grin slightly. She could only hope the other essentials were tucked away in the cabinets, since she couldn't see anything else sitting out. The round box in the middle of the open space was obviously a stage for their art models, and Weiss could barely wait to see what sort of things she would be working on. Flowers? Common objects, like a backpack? Or maybe... a _person?_ She almost shivered with anticipation.

Before long, though, she was simply aggravated, growling, "Okay this is officially ridiculous. Are we just going to sit here all class?" No matter _what_ kind of pay the teachers of a run-down place like this might receive, it was _no excuse_ for showing up almost fifteen minutes late! There were supposed to be _rules_ to society, were there not? Weiss looked around the room, hoping to spot anyone who would agree with her.

One girl nodded, and her ...rather _unique_ bang of brown hair bobbed a bit with the movement, "I guess we just do study hall for now." The other kids in the room simply nodded as well, pulling out various books or magazines to pass the time. It was nice that no one was eager to start up a conversation, which kept it much more peaceful in the room. The only problem was that it wasn't _supposed_ to be this quiet. They were supposed to be _working_ on something.

To keep herself from staring at anyone, Weiss pulled out a book from her bag and ...'pretended' to read from it. She really couldn't focus on it, though. Her thoughts drifted to what she had read about their art teacher, a woman named Cinder Fall. She was supposed to be one of the top-ranked painters on the east coast, but now she was ...somehow reduced to the level of a _high school art teacher_. It was a change that the young Schnee simply _could not_ wrap her brain around. Ms. Fall was also one of the only art teachers her father _did not_ manage to hire as a private tutor... which immediately put her on Weiss' radar. It took serious guts to refuse a Schnee job and she _really_ wanted to know what kind of woman would do that.

She barely noticed when the door opened and a gruff-looking man shuffled in. He was instantly offering excuses, but all Weiss had to know was that this was definitely _not_ Cinder Fall.

"Sorry I'm late," the man said, "they called me in a bit ... _last minute_." There was a clear tone of anger in his last words, and Weiss briefly wondered who ...'they' were. "Your _real_ teacher, Ms. Fall, had to run to the hospital for a family emergency. So you're stuck with _me_ for now."

All Weiss could see when she looked at the man was a drunkard who had just sobered up that morning and thrown on his best clothes... assuming they were actually _his_. He could have passed for a homeless guy with no trouble.

 _Damn. So the first day of school and I get a substitute teacher. And for THIS class, of all classes!_

Weiss couldn't contain her disappointment. _Why me?_

"My name's Qrow, spelled with a 'Q'. I'll be your substitute for the next ...eh, _little while._ " Weiss bit back a sarcastic comment as the man slowly walked over to the corner of the room, grabbed a fake potted plant, and roughly sat it on the little stage in the middle of the desks. The teen got a sudden, sinking feeling.

"This is an art class, right?" He pointed to the plant, "So, uh... draw that." He began walking back to the desk saying, "I don't care if it's just a scribble... draw something, put your name on it, and put it on the desk before the day's out. That's all _they_ need from me, anyway," he shrugged.

Weiss was already a bit pale, but this news threatened to make her go pure white. Draw? As in, pencil and paper? She knew such a thing would be possible as the class was called Art-1... not ' _painting_ -1.' She _knew_ there would be other artistic mediums to work with... but this was rather soon, wasn't it? Simple drawing was not her strong suit, and she sat frozen as the man called Qrow ...somehow _fell asleep_ in the teacher's chair. Maybe he wasn't as sober as she first thought...

...

Suddenly the girl with the red hair stood up and walked over to the supply shelf. Weiss could instantly sense a change in her attitude - the tension was gone from both the redhead and, after a few moments, from the rest of the class as well. It was rather remarkable, actually. The young Schnee stood up with the others, seemingly compelled to follow the girls' lead.

Before she knew it, there was a piece of paper and a number 2 pencil sitting on the desk before her. Normally this was the part of the event where her brain would just lock up. She was used to paintbrushes and long, wide strokes of color over an expanse of smooth canvas - not scribbling with a pointed _stick_. She always felt a bit like a caveman whenever she tried it... but then she looked over at the redhead and her breath caught.

There was no mistaking _that_ pose, _that_ expression. This girl was in 'the zone.'

Anyone who has had the unique experience of _making something_ , whether by drawing or painting a picture, building a model kit, or even writing a story, has experienced 'the zone'... the pure focus of mind in which there can be _no_ distractions. There is only the work before you, nothing else.

The redhead was definitely there now - and Weiss clearly saw a talent in the way her fingers worked that little shaft of wood and graphite. She was actually reminded of how _she_ worked with her paintbrush...

Suddenly remembering her Schnee pride, Weiss set about scratching out a reasonable facsimile of the bundle of painted plastic plant leaves before her. It wasn't good... but it was the best she could do under such strenuous time constraints. No one could accuse her of wasting her time or _not trying._ She grinned a bit as she examined it, unhappy with the unavoidable grayscale but satisfied with the overall result none the less. She had seen a few other drawings by students her age, but none of what she saw could come close to what she produced... at least that was how she felt at that moment.

But then she looked over at the redhead's picture and her cherished pride _nearly_ shattered. The girl's drawing was _flawless._ From where she sat, Weiss could not find a single thing to criticize about it - the proportions were perfect, the shading was spot-on... it put her chicken scratch to _shame_. The only thing that saved her work from the scrap heap was the knowledge that it was just a _drawing_... of _course_ there would be several people who were better than she was. It was only natural. It was still irritating as hell, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Then she _also_ remembered that it was the assignment for the day. She quickly slapped her paper on the teacher's desk so she didn't have to look at it anymore.

For the last few minutes of class she simply sat and watched in awe as the redheaded girl just ... _kept on drawing!_ Good gods, what more could she _do?!_ She only stopped when the bell actually rang, scrambling over to the teacher's desk and placing her paper with the others before grabbing her bookbag and heading out the door in a huff.

As the heavy door closed with a sigh (thanks to the hydraulic mechanism at the top) Weiss could only stare at it, her mind whirling with new emotions.

That girl was definitely younger than herself, most likely a freshman, yet her technique was ...almost that of a _master._ She must have been drawing for most of her life to have such a skill level. The young Schnee felt a sensation not unlike admiration beginning to form within her chest... it certainly wasn't the same as with her paintings, but it was good to know that she wasn't _completely_ surrounded by total amateurs.

Her thoughts drifted to her father and his many tutors next, and how most of them had mentioned the subject of a _rival_... and how competition was the single greatest factor in advancing your own technique. While Weiss didn't see a concrete connection between this redhead's drawing skills and her own paintings, she _did_ understand that the girl had the potential to help her grow in ways she may never have considered before.

As she picked up her own bag, Weiss thought _You know, ...I need to remember to ask for her name tomorrow..._

 _..._

* * *

 **A/N: Thusly the school year begins. Don't worry, I don't intend to follow each and every day of it - that would be one _long_ story. The next chapter will introduce this story's version of Blake, so stay tuned.  
**

 **As far as non-White-Rose pairings are concerned, ...I'm thinking I'll try to use Crosshares, Cornflakes, and _implied_ Bumblebee (you'll see what I mean in later chapters).  
**

 **BTW, I'm gonna try to get the term 'cornflakes' adopted to replace Arkos as the name for the Jaune X Pyrrha ship. I mean seriously? Possibly the most canon of all the ships and all they get is a merger of names? Shameful. And cornflakes fits, since Pyrrha is on a cereal box and Jaune is corny. Puns, I've got them.**


	3. Friends Like These

**Author's Note: I goofed a bit with some numbers, as pointed out by a reviewer - high school kids normally start at 14, not 15. I updated the first chapter to reflect this change, as well as altering one or two other areas. The incident from Yang's past that got her held back, for example, I moved it to an earlier year.  
**

 **Nearly everyone who goes through high school needs a good group of friends, am I right? Now it's time to meet Ruby and Weiss' friends. I went through several variations for this part of the story before finally settling on this one. Hope you like it.  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY in any way.**

* * *

...

Ruby had always been a sucker for beautiful eyes. It didn't matter what color, size or shape they were; if she thought they were pretty, she loved them. The girl from her art class (who had introduced herself as Weiss) certainly had one of the prettiest eye colors the redhead had ever seen, but there seemed to be no shortage of stunning eyes all around her at this freakin' school. She was currently spying a pair of lovely amber-colored jewels. They were ignoring her, though, and had been buried in a large book for the past several minutes.

The owner of those eyes stood at least a foot taller than Ruby, seemingly higher with her hair taken into account. It was a gorgeous black that cascaded down her back like an ebony waterfall. She wore a white blouse with a frilly neckline and a nice pair of black trousers. Her black-and-blue sneakers were tucked beneath her knees as she sat cross-legged in the hallway with her book. Ruby sat across from the girl, her sketch book in her lap, _trying_ to focus on what she had been drawing. It wasn't working.

Today was the fourth day of the week, known as Thursday. Also called _Not Friday._

Starting yesterday and continuing into the foreseeable future, both Ruby and Yang were to be dropped off at the school by their dad (who went into work _really_ early) nearly an _hour_ before any classes started for the day. Luckily for Yang, she had a club that met before school that she could go to - but Ruby wasn't so lucky.

With nowhere to go, she found herself sitting on the floor in the hallway just outside the library. It was peaceful and had a nice fluorescent fixture just over her head where she sat, giving her a great light source. It turned out to be a perfect place for just killing time and doodling... but today she had company. This new girl _definitely_ didn't seem pleased to see Ruby sitting in that spot, but chose not to say anything. Instead she simply took a seat across the hall and began reading. Ruby spied the name of the author, but couldn't make out how to pronounce it. Andre... And _rzej..._ Sap... _kowski?_ The _hell?_ She decided not to ask.

It had been almost fifteen minutes without any words.. This was getting awkward.

"Mornin' Blake. Early as usual I see..." A rather _chipper_ voice called out. Ruby looked up and found the girl from her art class, the one with the cool brown hair, walking their way. She had on a lot of brown; her beret, pants and boots were all a dark brown, and her long-sleeved shirt was a lighter brown. The colors reminded Ruby of caramel and chocolate.

The girl suddenly stopped and placed one hand over her mouth in a grandiose fashion, proclaiming, " _What_ is _this_ I see? ...Blake? ... _With a friend?!_ " The teenager gave a loud, theatrical _gasp_ of surprise.

The girl called Blake didn't bat an eye, "Hardly. She just got here first," she said in a dry tone.

A new voice spoke up from behind them, this one of the male persuasion, "Really? But you're _always_ the first one here..."

Ruby looked behind the girl in brown to find a tall, skinny boy with shaggy blonde hair and a thick pair of glasses. He had on what could only be described as standard _nerd_ fashion: a plaid blue button-up shirt, khaki pants, and loafers. Also, his socks were showing. Very clearly.

"Hey, I know you... You're that kid in the art class, right?" the brown girl was leaning closer to get a better look at her redheaded target.

Ruby swallowed, then said, "Yeah. Name's Ruby."

The girl extended a hand which Ruby took, and they formally greeted each other. "I'm Coco. And that's Jaune," she motioned behind her with her free hand.

The boy nodded bashfully, "Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you."

 _Whoa, hold on a minute..._ "Jaune ...Arc? ...As in, _vomit_ _boy_ Jaune Arc?"

Needless to say, this got the attention of all three teens. Blake and Coco merely blinked, but Jaune had a look of shock. "How did you...?"

"The fourth of July picnic from ...uh, seven years ago. Remember?"

Jaune's blue eyes narrowed as he looked closer at Ruby's face, before they finally opened wide, " _Crater face?!_ "

 _"Oh. My. God!"_ They said in unison, both pointing at each other.

"Okay, ... _this_ ought to be good," Coco intoned with a grin. She walked over to where Blake sat and leaned against the wall. The sitting girl had bookmarked her spot so she could pay better attention.

Jaune started the story, "A while back our families took us to a big fourth of July picnic. It was hosted by the local church, but it was really a community event so everyone could come. It was all-you-could-eat, too."

Ruby poked in, "...and good ol' Jaune here tried to eat all the hot dogs."

Coco and Blake said, together, " _All_ the hot dogs?"

The blonde scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "Heh heh, yeah pretty much. Couldn't help it. I ate so much I got sick..."

Ruby again, "Hence the nickname _vomit boy."_

Jaune whipped around and said, "Better than blowing myself up with fireworks!"

Brown and amber eyes locked onto the redhead, waiting for an explanation.

"We were playing with those ... _popper_ things. The ones you throw down on the sidewalk and they _pop_ , you know? Well I had a _brilliant_ idea..."

"She tried to light the little string like it was a wick, but then she forgot to put it down..." Jaune continued.

"I didn't know it would blow up so _fast_..."

"She _also_ didn't know that she had accidentally grabbed a _larger_ version of a popper..."

"It _definitely_ didn't _'pop,'_ " Ruby growled.

"She burned off one eyebrow and needed stitches. Wore an eyepatch for a _month_ , as I heard it," Jaune chuckled, "hence the nickname _crater face._ "

Ruby crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks in annoyance, but couldn't hide the smile that started creeping onto her face. Eventually, all four teens shared a good laugh at the mental image of the redhead getting a face full of _bang_.

...

After collecting herself, Coco said, "Well, we don't have any stories _that_ fun, but Blake and I have been in the same class for several years now. She's actually supposed to be a junior this year but she got held-"

"I _don't_ want to talk about that, okay?" the black-haired girl interrupted. She had a cross tone in her voice, effectively stamping out the good mood they had been sharing up 'til now. Ruby felt a wave of guilt wash over her - she never intended to bring up a bad memory simply by talking about the past.

And it was then that the melodic tones of the school's bell further interrupted any other attempts at conversation. Ruby staggered to her feet (which had fallen asleep by this point) and started off to her first class. The other three shared their goodbyes and did the same.

Coco saddled up next to Ruby and offered an apology. "Hey don't worry about her too much, okay? Blake's had a rough time since ... _that_ happened."

"Was it something ...bad?" The redhead looked worried, hoping she hadn't inadvertently opened an old wound.

Coco nodded solemnly. "Yeah, it was. I'm not going to say anything else about it, since it'd be better for her to tell you on her own. Just don't pressure her into it, okay?"

This time it was Ruby who nodded. She knew good and well what it was like to have a memory that was a bit too painful to have someone else bring it up. The mental image of her mother's memorial stone near their family home was still bright and clear in her head.

Coco smiled and gave the shorter girl a hug... and Ruby smelled something similar to hot chocolate coming off of her. Perfume maybe? Would it be rude to ask?

The girl in brown released her grip and purred, "See you later, short stuff." She ruffled Ruby's hair with one hand before walking away, laughing as the shorter girl whined and batted at the offending appendage in irritation.

* * *

...

* * *

...

It was now Friday night. A whole weekend at home lay ahead of her.

Weiss never imagined she'd actually _miss_ being at school.

As she sat down at her computer, Weiss adjusted the towel that was currently wrapped around her head. It was a chore to get her hair fully clean (especially since she was so meticulous about it), but it was always such a glorious feeling when she was done. Other than that towel, Weiss' evening attire consisted of a plain white t-shirt and a pair of sleep pants that were covered in repeated images of a small white dog lying atop a red doghouse. She had thought it was cute when she got it, but later found that she simply didn't want to part with it. Ever.

The young Schnee thought back to the events of the week, amazed that she could get through such ... _odd_ tasks. Art class was foremost in her mind, mainly due to the redheaded girl she sat next to - Weiss had finally introduced herself to Ruby on Wednesday. Such a pretty name, too... _Ruby Rose._ Weiss found herself smiling at the thought. _And she has such talent... I wonder how she'd do with a painting...?_

This past week was quite the eye-opener for Weiss. Never before had she seen someone wield the humble pencil with such a skill as Ruby did. Monday saw her produce that near-perfect image of a fake potted plant, an act that still made Weiss go into a mild shock.

The rest of the week was almost as bad - Qrow didn't have anything for them again on Tuesday so he just ...took off his shoes and had them draw _that_. On Wednesday he was a _bit_ more prepared, as he had brought in his old laptop computer as the subject for their sketch. Thursday was probably the worst, as the man simply couldn't be bothered to think and just had them all draw _whatever they wanted._ That might have been easy for the others, but choosing a subject was probably the single biggest challenge Weiss had to face each time she sat down to create _anything._

By the time Friday rolled around, Weiss had produced a series of reasonably acceptable chicken-scratches that _kinda_ looked like and old pair of shoes, a dusty old laptop, and a copy of a small world map that was hung just behind the teacher's desk.

And with each picture, Weiss had always looked over at Ruby to see what she had done for the day - each time feeling worse and worse about her own work.

Ruby's drawing of the shoes was not only highly detailed, but she had taken it a step further by _adding_ things to the scene. Weiss was sure she could see a bunch of little ...gnome-like creatures scampering around the shoes, and it looked like they were cleaning and repairing them. She even spied one on top of a shoe with an electric floor buffer.

Her computer drawing looked like something straight out of a science-fiction movie - parts of the casing were drawn like they were see-through and the image on the screen was made to look like it was ... _breaking out_ from the inside. It was incredible work.

The drawing that really made Weiss stare was Thursday's, as Ruby had selected a _live_ subject - the girl with the neat brown hair from across the room. The quality was not photo-realistic as Weiss had expected, but it was still vastly superior to anything she would be able to do on her best day. Ruby had even drawn _each freaking lace_ on the girl's boots. Thank God they didn't have anything assigned today, or Weiss would probably be unable to sleep from the shock... instead she had something else to ponder for the weekend.

Ice-blue eyes wandered over to the corner of her bedroom where a makeshift studio had been put together. She had an old easel set up close to the largest window in her room, with a medium-sized fluorescent light mounted to the side for evening work. Near that was a storage desk that held her supplies: brushes, various small tools, and of course, paints. She easily had three drawers _full_ of the little aluminum tubes. Laying atop the desk was her palette, a round board made of bamboo where she mixed colors before applying them to the canvas. It wasn't a grand studio, but for a high school student who was bent on getting out of her father's shadow, it was basically perfect.

Sitting on the easel was a 9x12 canvas panel. It was blank. Before the weekend was over, it would hold her latest work.

The man called Qrow had been the substitute art teacher for the entire week, but he announced today that he was done. Starting Monday, their _real_ teacher would return. This news caused no small amount of joy within the young Schnee, and several classmates seemed to share her enthusiasm. Ruby certainly looked relieved.

Then came the bombshell: Qrow had been in contact with Ms. Fall during the week and the teacher in question had made up some weekend homework. For _each_ student. Each and every kid in her classes ( _every period_ , too) had a _different_ project to do. How the woman could think up such things was quite a mystery, and Weiss had made up her mind to solve it. One of these days, anyway.

Weiss examined her paper, reading the handwritten message: _Produce an image of The Beacon. Any size, any medium. Must be in color._

Which is why the girl was now googling lighthouse images, hoping to find at least one good photo of The Beacon and/or any other good picture of a lighthouse. The reference is what mattered, not the details. As she scrolled down the thumbnails, a window popped up with a _ping_ in the corner of the screen. A chat icon.

...

 **[rabit-ears2000]** : hey weiss you busy?

Weiss smiled, glad for the distraction. Wow, how long had it been since she'd been able to chat with _her?_

 **[fa11ingsn0w]** : Good evening, Velvet. No, I'm simply researching material for my weekend homework.

 **[rabit-ears2000]** : yeah that sounds like you

Weiss stuck out her tongue at the screen.

 **[fa11ingsn0w]** : For your information, I'm looking up images of lighthouses. It's for my art class. I'm going to paint a picture of 'The Beacon.'

 **[rabit-ears2000]** : the beacon? like, oum highs beacon?

 **[fa11ingsn0w]** : You know of it?

 **[rabit-ears2000]** : i should, i go there you know...

 _Wait, what? She goes there?!_

 **[fa11ingsn0w]** : You attend Oum High School? I haven't seen you there, and I started this year.

 **[rabit-ears2000]** : seriously?! what classes? what schedule? WHERE R U?

Weiss snorted lightly as she found herself laughing out loud (so _that's_ what the 'LOL' stands for).

The two old friends continued exchanging messages for about an hour. By the time they had finished, they had agreed to meet at the base of The Beacon first thing Monday morning. Weiss made sure Velvet knew it would have to be brief since she was also starting out in the track and field club that day, and they planned to meet up early in the day to run. It would be good exercise, and the young Schnee did not want to miss that.

Velvet was one of Weiss' only _real_ friends and had been for many years. She didn't come from a rich background like Weiss, but that didn't stop them from getting along famously. They both shared a common love of old movies, fantasy novels, and trying on clothes they wouldn't buy. Store owners _hated_ the two of them. Weiss giggled at the memory.

The painting would certainly happen, but for now Weiss was content with letting her good memories lull her to sleep. With what she remembered of Velvet and what she had recently learned of Ruby (which, to be honest, wasn't much), Weiss found herself looking forward to the day Ruby Rose and Velvet Scarlatina would meet.

...

* * *

 **A/N: Next time we _will_ meet Cinder the art teacher. I promise.  
**

 **Did you like the user names? I figured it was better than just 'V' and 'W.' I was trying to think of a good way to introduce a few extra characters so I could have a few side pairings to ...er, _compliment_ the main one. I'll be bringing in Pyrrha pretty soon as well.**


	4. One Step Forward

**Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, been a crazy couple of weeks for me. On top of that I went ahead and started my 'main' story on the side - yes, _before_ finishing this one. I have no idea what I'm doing sometimes.  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY in any way. I claim no expertise in nearly anything written below.**

 **Except for the art part. I _do_ know about that.  
**

* * *

...

If you were to ask Ruby what was on her mind during the last period of the second Monday of her sophomore year of high school, she would not have a simple answer for you.

In truth, there were many, _many_ things swimming through her brain at that time. None were any larger or smaller than the others. All of them loomed large, like a gang of trolls ready to devour the little redheaded halfling they'd just caught.

Firstly there was some sort of... _issue_ with Blake this morning. If you placed a $100 bill in her hand, Ruby _could not_ tell you what the reason for Blake's anger was. It was simply _mystifying_. She knew it had something to do with the mention of Yang's name in their conversation, which got Blake's attention, and then once Blake heard Yang's full name _and_ that she was Ruby's step-sister, the taller girl stood up and stormed off in an angry huff. Coco followed close behind her worriedly, not bothering to offer _any_ sort of explanation. Jaune was there too, but he was completely useless in this situation. It wasn't _his_ fault, though... he seemed just as clueless as anybody. Blake wasn't _his_ close friend, after all.

After that came the incident in third period, in which Ruby _once again_ met a really pretty girl hiding in her class. Ruby felt like she was _cursed_ or something. Why did all these good-looking girls keep finding her like this? It was almost torture. This girl seemed really interested in Ruby's sketch book after she opened it up following the end of class. Said her name was Velvet something-or-other. Ruby was a bit distracted by her abnormally thick glasses and her really long brown hair, so it was hard to pay attention at the time. That, and her accent was like nothing Ruby had ever heard before. Australian, perhaps?

Following that was the event at the beginning of art class, in which Ruby Rose met her real art teacher, called Cinder Fall, for the first time.

First impression: if the dictionary term for 'intimidating' had a picture next to it, that picture would be of Cinder Fall. Everything from her well-kept dress to her immaculate black hair gave off the feeling of control and order. The gleam in her blazing yellow eyes gave Ruby the sense that this was a woman who was good at keeping rowdy teenagers in line. The controlled pitch of her voice brought to mind images of the evil villains in various superhero cartoons. How this woman had managed to teach a _freaking art class_ for any length of time was ...possibly one of life's great, unsolvable mysteries.

Ms. Fall had somehow _analyzed_ all of the student's weekend projects in just a few minutes, giving each and every one of the kids a full rundown of their strengths and weaknesses based solely on that. Ruby's own project was two-fold - she had to draw two separate pictures, one in color and one in grayscale. The first had to show how she imagined herself in five years in a scenario based in reality, and the other was to show how she imagined herself in a more ...fantastical setting. Obviously she drew a scene of herself (albeit a bit older) working in some kind of artsy studio for the reality portrait, and in the other she portrayed herself as a sci-fi-ish warrior with a huge scythe weapon which was part sniper rifle. Her outfit in that image was themed after little red riding hood, one of her favorite old fairy-tale characters. The 'reality' picture was in color, the 'fantasy' one in grayscale.

Needless to say, her choices caused the teacher to raise an eyebrow. It would be some time before Ruby understood how significant that was.

And finally, based on the earlier findings, Ms. Fall had paired each student up in twos. It was what she called the 'buddy system.' This was a setup she had learned back when she was in-training herself, and it had worked quite well ever since. Each member of the pair would take some responsibility for the other, sending reminders of homework and helping each other out with tougher projects, among other things. And for the first pairing assignment, every student received a printout with some standard interview questions. Today was the 'getting-to-know-you' day.

...

Ruby and Weiss sat facing each other from opposite sides of the same desk, _buddies_ for the remainder of their time in this class.

All Ruby wanted to do was run outside to the nearest pile of dirt and bury herself before she could stick her size-7 foot in her mouth.

The majority of the questions were _so_ standard and cliche that it was hard to maintain focus for very long. Ruby almost started filling out the answers to a few questions before she even asked them, causing no small level of frantic erasing. Name, age, birth date ( _but... why?_ ), and other details were all pretty standard.

Each student also had to admit which area of the artistic medium they considered their weakness - for Ruby, this simply _had_ to be painting. She had worked with dry mediums for most of her life by this point, and the wet stuff always seemed like some kind of alien substance. She also _hated_ getting very dirty, and always saw painters as practically _covered_ in colorful smears.

Oddly enough, this answer seemed to give Weiss a small bit of surprise. Did she really not expect that?

Ruby herself was surprised when Weiss revealed that her own weakness matched Ruby's strength: pencil drawing. Her comparison of scribbling with a pointed stick came close to making Ruby break out with a case of the giggles, but she bravely held it in.

It was only after this that the redhead began to understand Ms. Fall's reasoning behind pairing her with Weiss - their strengths and weaknesses seemed to balance each other out. Each could teach the other new things about their chosen medium that they would otherwise never learn on their own or even in class.

That was also when she began to realize the _true_ reason for the pairings: let the students do half the teaching work.

What a _shrewd_ woman...

* * *

...

...

* * *

...

It was now the last few minutes of class. Almost everybody was done and was now chatting the time away before the bell rang. All but Ruby and Weiss, that is.

In addition to the pre-written questions, everyone had to ask three _custom_ questions to each other. Three questions that pertained to each person on an individual basis. Three questions that were not already printed on the paper. Weiss already had hers done, but she had to sit and wait for Ruby to come up with her third one. The redhead was close to panicking, her mind locking up whenever she tried to think of something meaningful, or something funny maybe... _anything_ but something personal or embarrassing...

As was usual with Ruby, once her mind began to rebel against itself, the mouth was soon to follow.

She muttered, "...Do you have a girlfriend?..." before she could stop herself. Her hand instantly flew to her mouth, but it was too late to catch it.

Weiss could only blink, "... _What?_ " in a low voice.

After a split second of brain fart, Ruby spat out, "No, I- I mean _boyfriend_... n-no, I ...oh _Goddammit ..._ " Ruby buried her face in her hands in a vain effort to hide her deepening blush. Why the _hell_ did she say that? Only a half second away from starting to cry, Ruby was saved by the miraculous timing of the bells. She quickly and noisily grabbed her bag and very nearly headbutted the door into oblivion on her way out, her face a deep shade of red. Tears had just started to form in the corners of her eyes as she nearly ran to the bathroom to ... _try_ to clean herself up.

In her haste to make a quick exit, Ruby failed to notice Coco watching the whole scene... as well as the wicked smile slowly spreading over her face in the style of the Grinch contemplating his holiday heist.

* * *

...

...

* * *

...

That night, Ruby sat up in bed exploring her normal internet haunts on her laptop. She needed to get her mind off of that _mortally_ embarrassing event from earlier. The lights were off in the room as Yang lightly snored from her bed on the other side. The alarm clock glowed 9:56. Other than that, her screen was the only light in the darkness.

A _ping_ sang out as a pop-up vied for Ruby's attention from the corner of the monitor. A chat invite? From someone with the username... fa11ingsn0w?

...

 **[fa11ingsn0w]** : Ruby, are you still awake at this hour? It's me, Weiss.

 _Oh, joy. Just what I need right now._

Although come to think of it, she actually _did_ need to talk to someone...

 **[5car1ett-17]** : Yea I'm here. What's up?

 **[fa11ingsn0w]** : My answer is 'no.'

 **[5car1ett-17]** : ...um, no what?

 **[fa11ingsn0w]** : To your question from earlier, my answer is 'no.'

 _Oh, gods... has she been thinking about that all day? No, she's probably talking about the 'boyfriend' part I tried. Yeah, that's it..._

 **[fa11ingsn0w]** : No boyfriend, either.

Ruby had the sudden urge to crawl into a trash can.

 **[5car1ett-17]** : I'm sorry I asked such a weird question. I felt like such an ass.

 **[fa11ingsn0w]** : Oh, it's alright. Stuff like that actually doesn't bother me.

Ruby's shoulders lifted by about half an inch...

 **[fa11ingsn0w]** : What about you? Boyfriend? Girlfriend?

...And then dropped another two inches. How the flaming crap was she supposed to answer _that?_

 **[5car1ett-17]** : Uh, nope. And that's for both, btw.

There was no other message for several minutes, giving Ruby the impression that Weiss was done for the night, but then she noticed a little icon in the corner just underneath the chat box. It seemed to indicate that the other person was busy typing a message. It blinked on and off for quite a while... apparently she was trying to word her next message with great care, giving Ruby cause to be concerned...

 **[fa11ingsn0w]** : Are you interested?

Ruby was sure her head was soon to explode from all the blood rushing into it. She almost swore there was steam coming off of her face. The next several messages all popped up in quick succession.

 **[fa11ingsn0w]** : What I mean is, interested in me?

 **[fa11ingsn0w]** : No, I mean

 **[fa11ingsn0w]** : Shit, hold on a minute...

Needless to say, seeing such a thing was more than sufficient to hold the redhead's _full_ attention for as long as it took. If Weiss had simply lost her connection and didn't send anything else all night, then the morning sun would find Ruby staring hard at that screen, _willing_ something to happen. It was obvious that the other girl was trying to say something very important, and Ruby did not want to miss the chance to hear... or rather, _see_ it.

As she waited, Ruby found herself thinking back on the first week of school and all the times she got to see Weiss. That first day was really something else for her, since she had never even _seen_ platinum blonde hair before. It was gorgeous. Even the next few days were memorable - finding out that the name 'Weiss Schnee' was German for 'White Snow' was really neat. Every time she thought of the blue-eyed beauty, Ruby found her heart beating faster than ever. All through the weekend Ruby had found herself daydreaming of falling into those deep, wonderful eyes... _Damn_ did she have it bad.

After the longest ten minutes of her life, Ruby's patience was rewarded.

 **[fa11ingsn0w]** : What I _meant_ to ask was, if you're interested, would you like me to be your girlfriend? I believe it would be both a good status for each of us _and_ mutually beneficial with regards to our class pairing. Of course, you don't _have_ to if you don't want to...

Ruby honestly didn't follow anything after the initial question. Her brain had just shut down.

Weiss Schnee had just asked to be her girlfriend...

Weiss Schnee had just asked to be her...

Weiss Schnee had just...

 _If this is a dream, please don't wake me up. If it's not, that means I'm dead._

The redhead barely managed to type a single word before passing out on her bed.

 **[5car1ett-17]** : yes

Ruby was _not_ looking forward to tomorrow.

* * *

...

...

* * *

...

The first thing Weiss did when she got home was to look up the word 'girlfriend.'

She wasn't stupid, but some words simply ... _eluded_ her. She knew good and well that the quote-unquote "modern culture" used many terms and references that she was totally unfamiliar with, and to her credit she _did_ go out of her way to learn many of them. For all she knew, Ruby's use of the word might have meant something completely different than what she would expect. Such was the result of living a sheltered life, she supposed.

The first search result stared back at her from the monitor:

girl·friend  
[ɡərlˌfrend]  
 _noun_  
noun: **girlfriend** ; plural noun: **girlfriend** **s**  
1) a regular female companion with whom a person has a romantic or sexual relationship  
2) a woman's female friend

Upon reading the first option, Weiss choked. She found it hard to imagine the stuttering, _mega-talented_ redhead was asking about _that_.

Okay, ...in that case, Weiss picked what _she thought_ was the best choice - _the second option_. Ruby was just asking if she had any good _female_ friends.

Well there _was_ Velvet, but she had a slight feeling that wasn't _quite_ what the question was about...

Several minutes later, Weiss was engaged in an online conversation with her new art buddy. After confirming her answer, Weiss was a bit surprised to find that Ruby herself didn't have either one - so they were in the same boat, so to speak. She tried to ask _Can I be your girlfriend?_ but deleted it. Too personal. She then tried _We can be girlfriends if you want..._ but deleted that one too. That was too indecisive. She had to be direct, but detached. First she had to know... _Are you interested?_

Damn, that was too vague. Trying to correct it only made it worse. When the phone rang, Weiss forgot manners and typed just what she was thinking.

It was her father checking in on her (again). Normal stuff, and it always lasted just five minutes.

During the entire call, however, all Weiss could think was _Did I really just say 'shit'? I hope she didn't log off thinking I'm rude or anything..._

As luck would have it, Ruby was still connected. Weiss took a minute to write out the full request, complete with her intent. She was rather proud of herself, to be honest. She had always considered Velvet to be her best friend, and now she had another girl to add to that list. And it was a _talented_ girl to boot! It didn't matter to the young Schnee what terminology Ruby used - friend, girlfriend, bff - it was all the same to her.

The short but simple response appeared moments later. The girl grinned.

 _Well, I guess that makes two best friends. I am on a roll._

Weiss was _really_ looking forward to tomorrow.

...

* * *

 **A/N: Man, this chapter turned out to be a lot harder than I expected. Hopefully my muse will wake up soon and help me out - I think she went on vacation or something. The idea here was to show that Weiss' sheltered life has left her _significantly_ unprepared for the real world, to the point that she is even innocent of the meaning of the term 'girlfriend' in the context that Ruby actually meant. This, naturally, will lead to many misunderstandings in the near future.  
**

 **I hope this story doesn't get _too_ out-of-hand for me.**


	5. Two Steps Back

**Just an FYI, I went over all four previous chapters and did some light re-writing. Mostly just typo fixes and adding small things here and there. Give it another read if you fancy, just know that there aren't any _drastic_ changes.  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY in any way. But I'm sure you've figured that out by now.**

* * *

...

It was early Tuesday morning when Weiss found herself running with the Oum High School Track and Field Club for the first time. It was the day after Ruby had agreed to be her 'girlfriend.'

Weiss had never been a morning person before coming to Oum High, but now she loved it. Well, not so much the getting up part, but definitely the weather. She absolutely _hated_ the heat, so the early morning dampness was far nicer for the young Schnee.

The track was a standard quarter-mile loop of red clay encircling the football field. It was a bit low-class for Weiss at first, but like most everything else about this school, she soon learned to love it. The smell of the early morning dew was wonderful, despite the humidity. It was also the hour when the sunrise was at it's most brilliant, painting the sky with gorgeous tones of orange, red and pink. Maybe _that_ was her favorite part in the end.

The Track and Field club was one of the larger out-of-class organizations on campus, and it boasted a proud history of several regional and one national championship. These were, sadly, _old_ wins, but a legacy of victory is never to be shunned. This year the club was nearly full enough to compete in the official meets, but they were short by one or two extra students. Most of them didn't mind this - they were still allowed to run in the mornings without interruption. They ran in their gym outfits - a plain white t-shirt and dark blue gym shorts.

Even though the running was enjoyable (she was loathe to use the word _fun_ ), Weiss was a bit... distracted this morning. She wasn't even sure what it was, but there was something in the back of her mind, like a gentle itch she simply couldn't scratch, always there and constantly annoying her. She had hoped that, like a real itch, she could simply ignore it until it went away. It didn't. On the last lap, she realized that whatever it was, it _had_ to be connected to her conversation with Ruby last night.

As Weiss rounded the corner, she spied Velvet standing next to a table with numerous bottles of water for the runners. Weiss had only just reunited with her old friend the day before, yet the girl was already knee-deep in the track club right along with her. She was the club's official 'water girl.' She had on a plain pair of old blue jeans and a yellow mid-sleeve shirt. Her abnormally thick glasses only slightly obscured her eyes.

Panting, Weiss greeted her, "...Morning _Clark Kent_..." She was still getting used to the specs and enjoyed teasing the girl.

Velvet gave as good as she got, "That makes you _Lois Lane,_ you know." She sighed, "I'll never understand you running types. What's so _bad_ about _walking?_ " The brunette teased as she handed over a bottle.

"It's too slow..." Weiss grinned before gulping. The cool water felt nice on her throat.

"Well I guess _I'm_ just not in as much of a _hurry_ as you people are." Velvet shot back, her voice a mockingly high pitch. The two teens giggled together. Velvet's accent made the last word sound like 'ah.' Weiss missed hearing that accent.

A taller girl jogged up behind them, taking a bottle for herself. "You have good form out there Weiss. Are you sure you have not done this before?"

The girl with the platinum blonde hair replied with shallower breaths, "Yeah, I'm sure."

With her above-average height and bright shock of fire-engine red hair, Pyrrha Nikos really stood out among the juniors - heck, among the entire school. She had just arrived stateside at the beginning of summer break as a foreign exchange student from Greece. If not for the name, though, you'd be hard pressed to guess that part. Pyrrha had taken so many classes and studied English so hard that she had _no_ accent at all. It was like listening to a learn-the-language CD or something. Strange.

The team captain greeted Velvet as well, "Good morning, Velvet. Thanks for all the hard work."

" _Bah_ ," she replied with a wave of her hand, "this ain't work. I get tired just _watching_ you guys out there."

The redhead drank half of her bottle, then said, "I will have one more lap, then stop. Care to join me Weiss?"

She shook her head, "Nope, I think I'm done for today."

As Pyrrha jogged off, Velvet channeled Mr. Jackson and muttered after her, "Contractions, mudda-fugga... _do you use dem?_ "

"Oh knock it off..." Weiss finished her bottle, then stopped and thought for a moment. "Hey Velvet, I have a question..."

"And I have an answer."

"The word 'girlfriend' ...is it normally used for people who are _just_ friends?"

"...And I rescind my previous statement. Are you _serious?_ "

The next five minutes passed by with Weiss telling Velvet a condensed version of her conversation the night before, including as much as she could remember about her choices based on her logic. By the time she was done, Velvet was staring at her like she had three heads.

"Weiss, I can _almost_ _guarantee_ you that Ruby meant it the romantic way, _not_ the friend way. And I don't even _know_ her that well."

The teen sighed, "That's gonna make this afternoon awkward as _hell_..."

"Oh don't be like that. I saw her in class yesterday, she's cute. Why not, ...oh I don't know... give her a chance? I mean after all... _you asked  her._"

The young Schnee crossed her arms in thought, said nothing for two minutes, then grabbed another bottle of water and went inside.

* * *

...

* * *

...

The rest of the day between that point and last period might as well have not happened at all for Weiss. She was completely absorbed in her thoughts.

Velvet _did_ have a point in that Ruby was cute, but was that enough to justify inviting her into a relationship after only knowing each other for a week? Certainly _she_ seemed okay with it - she did reply with a yes, after all - but Weiss was not convinced. She _had_ been completely sure that Ruby had meant the question in regards to friends and _not_ romantic, but there was the matter of that lingering doubt. That gnawing doubt. That uncertainty of whether or not reality is what we see and not some random computer program forced upon us by our robot overlords. Besides, Weiss had never even considered a romantic relationship of any kind ever in her life, and high school didn't seem like the place to start one. There were classes to attend, homework to finish, sporting events to skip... who has time for romantic relationships anyway? And on top of all that, with another girl? It's not that Weiss had _no_ interest in girls (she never had a distinction in her feelings between either gender), it's just that she never imagined getting close to one...

Velvet's words echoed in her head: _You asked  her._

And before she knew what happened, Weiss was standing in front of the Art Room door.

Well, here we go...

* * *

...

* * *

...

And just like that, Weiss' mental preparation was thrown out the window.

Ruby Rose was home sick today.

 _God. Damn. It._

 _..._

On the plus side, they actually had something to _work on_ today. Weiss quickly spotted a lovely arrangement of colorful flowers in a chrome vase sitting on the stage in the center of the room. They were likely fake flowers (that way they'd survive sitting in a room for a longer time), but the were _much_ better than the crap they put up with _last_ week.

 _Un_ fortunately, the assignment was based around the buddies within the class beginning their ... _self-teaching_. Each member of the pair was supposed to give the other a basic lesson in a new medium. Since Weiss was on her own, she was SOL (and no, she _didn't_ know what that stood for, she just learned it in a chat room and knew it meant she was basically screwed). Even _more_ annoying was the fact that she, along with the only other unpaired student in the room, was not actually _allowed_ to participate.

They had to sit in the corner. Like little kids who were in trouble. Weiss wasn't sure this day could get much worse...

"So... something going on with you and Ruby?" the girl next to her asked in a low voice.

...And it looked like she was wrong. _Wonderful_.

The girl (who introduced herself as Coco), had apparently seen the incident yesterday and it 'piqued her curiosity,' as she put it. Weiss didn't want to get anyone else involved in this, but upon learning that Coco was already friends with Ruby, she felt more comfortable sharing her issue. It might help to have an outside opinion, too. They spoke in hushed tones, careful to keep their conversation to themselves. They had both learned by now that Cinder Fall had very good hearing.

"So I think I might have made a _big_ mistake last night..."

"If you didn't get blacked-out drunk, it wasn't _that_ big."

"I _assumed_ Ruby was using the term 'girlfriend' in a _friend_ way, and now I think _she_ thinks I _like_ her..."

"I take it back. That _is_ a big mistake. Unless, of course..." she paused, "...you _do_ like her...?"

"No, I... well, I don't _hate_ her... but I, uh... _I don't know_. I don't even know what being a 'girlfriend' even _means!_ What are 'girlfriends' supposed to even _do?_ " Weiss held her face in her hands and muttered, "I feel like such an _idiot_..."

Coco leaned back in her seat, her face slowly lifting to the ceiling. "Well it seems to me that you need to figure out what Ruby _really_ thinks first, rather than all this _assuming_ crap. Beyond that..." she turned to face the Schnee girl, "...I think I can help you out with the other part."

Her brow furrowed, "What other part?"

The brunette put on a Cheshire grin and purred, "Weiss my friend, it's time I take you to a _whole new world_..."

...

...

...

By the time the bell finally rang, Weiss was the first one out the door. She was _never_ the first one out the door. She also _never_ had a full-face blush, and she _never_ walked fast enough to knock down anyone unfortunate enough to be in her way.

Well, never _before_. _Dammit Coco..._

 _..._

* * *

...

* * *

And so, once again, Weiss found herself staring at her computer screen, _willing_ it to tell her what she wanted to hear.

The problem was that she didn't even know what that was.

Velvet's words had continued echoing inside Weiss' head all day: _You_ _asked her._

The chat list in the corner told her that Ruby was once again logged in, so she began a chat.

...

 **[fa11ingsn0w]** : Are you feeling okay? I heard you were home sick.

There was no immediate response, but she waited. After a few minutes, a message popped up.

 **[5car1ett-17]** : Yeah, I'm good. A bit of food poisoning.

 _Why do I not believe that?_ Weiss thought sourly.

 **[fa11ingsn0w]** : I need to ask you something, but I don't want to sound too rude...

 **[5car1ett-17]** : Now you're getting me worried :(

Velvet's voice in her head again, like the Ghost of Christmas Past: _You_ _asked her_.

 **[fa11ingsn0w]** : I'm not sure how best to say it...

 _You asked  her._

 **[fa11ingsn0w]** : I guess I'll just keep it to the point. Do you like me?

Weiss very nearly put the word _actually_ before the word _like_ but didn't. That would have carried a tone of accusation, and that wasn't what she wanted to infer. The girl was simply trying to find out if there was any real reason behind Ruby asking such a question in the first place. It would give the redhead a chance to explain herself in a way that would prove that Weiss right all along. They were just friends, and they would both be fine with that. No need for any romance... right?

There was no response. She waited a few minutes.

 **[fa11ingsn0w]** : Ruby? You still there?

No response. Almost ten minutes after her last reply, Weiss was stunned to see:

 **[User 5car1ett-17 has logged off]**

Uhhhh... _that_ wasn't the reaction she was expecting.

The young Schnee was suddenly slammed with the thought that maybe Ruby _didn't_ like her after all, and she was just taken off guard when Weiss asked her to be girlfriends... that would make the most sense.

Ruby staying home fit into this theory, since she wouldn't want to face Weiss _this_ soon after such a proclamation... how could she not see it before? The nervousness, the stuttering, the thin bead of sweat Ruby would get every time she looked at her... _it was fear!_

Weiss must be _terrifying_ to get this kind of reaction from the poor girl. The 'yes' reply must have been given in the desperate hope that Weiss wouldn't eat her alive.

 _You asked  her._

In other words, _she_ was the instigator.

Okay, so we have Ruby thinking Weiss wants to be romantically involved, yet is scared to death of her. Weiss _could_ explain herself and take back her request... but for a Schnee, such a thing was no different than admitting defeat. Schnees _don't do that._ No weakness. No fear. Weiss now saw as plain as day that she had only one choice before her: Continue down the path she started, like it or not, until the end. That _damned_ Schnee pride would allow for no other course.

If Ruby Rose thinks she wants to be a _romantic_ girlfriend, then by God she'll be a _romantic_ girlfriend!

Weiss sat back, a massive weight flying off her shoulders and off her mind. She sighed with relief.

Now the only thing left to do is figure out how to get Ruby to _calm down_ around her.

* * *

...

* * *

...

Ruby's laptop remained closed, just as it had been when she slammed it shut nearly fifteen minutes ago.

Ruby herself was lying on her bed, head swimming. Part of that was from the rush of hormones and enzymes that signal a small mental breakdown... and the other part was from her long-dormant issue of high blood pressure. Funny... she was _sure_ that was taken care of a long time ago and would pose no more problems for her. She hadn't had an episode for several _years_ now.

She had stayed home because, as Weiss had guessed, there was _no way_ she could face the platinum blonde. She wouldn't have been able to _stand up straight_ , much less talk in an understandable language. It was ridiculous. Every time she even _thought_ about Weiss, Ruby felt like she was having a heart attack. She started thinking her condition might be similar to what drug addicts feel when they've been 'off the stuff' for too long. Withdrawal, they called it.

 _Well_ , she thought, _there is ONE thing I can do..._

Yang was out for the evening, so that was something. Ruby no longer cared about the laptop nor about what time it was. She simply waited until her head quit spinning. It took some time, but it finally did. Once ready, Ruby grabbed a small photo of Weiss (and _don't_ ask how she got it) and made her way into the bathroom. The door lock clicked shut behind her.

...

...

* * *

 **Author's Note: Oh dear... any further than _that_ and I'd have to bump up the rating.**

 **On another note, [Sheltered Life: 2, Weiss: zero]. Come on Weiss, get it together! Man, I gotta get them face-to-face again, this is nuts!  
**


	6. Actual Progress

**…Kept you waiting, huh? :)**

* * *

...

* * *

Ruby Rose did _not_ want to go to school again, but there were some battles that were best faced on level terms. Better than being shot in the backside while you're running away.

It had been an okay week once she got over the initial challenge of dragging herself back on Tuesday, mostly since Weiss seemed to have chosen to _avoid_ the subject that had been the bane of Ruby's existence for the last few days.

In other news, the weather had _finally_ started to cool down, but only slightly. Longer jeans and various types of trousers had begun appearing on many students, along with the occasional light jacket – although such things were only worn by the truly insane, as far as the redhead was concerned. The longest her own pants would ever go were the Capri length, just below the knees. She would go no longer, even if it started to snow.

Weiss was one of the insane ones, unfortunately. She had on a brilliant (almost _sparkling_ ) white jacket by Friday. It was _so_ bright, in fact, that most other kids had to squint when they looked her way.

Ruby simply chose to not look at the girl _at all._ She'd been doing that all week.

* * *

…

* * *

Art class was just as stressful as she expected it to be, but in _other_ ways. The project from Monday had, apparently, been extended to the entire week, giving the holdouts a chance to participate (and Ms. Fall was looking _directly_ at Ruby when she said this). Since Weiss had been there Monday, she was told to take the lead in their first 'teaching session.' Oh fun.

Ruby began by holding her paintbrush in a manner similar to how one holds a knife when they're ready to stab someone in the face… earning a deep sigh from the platinum blonde. _That_ was the first thing that needed fixing.

She then proceeded to squeeze a _tiny_ drop of each color of paint onto her palette. Another sigh. Weiss made some adjustments to this as well.

Finally ready, Ruby started with the biggest, brightest flower in the vase… and was soon making a total mess. Apparently this was 'normal' for a first-timer, since most novice painters apparently don't realize that paint will mix ON THE CANVAS just as well as on the palette.

Ruby couldn't help but notice a large vein throbbing on Weiss' forehead during their little 'teaching session.'

Just before the end of the day on Tuesday, Weiss gave the single biggest piece of advice she could think of if Ruby was _actually serious_ about getting this right: she had to _start_ with the background, then work her way to the foreground. This went against everything the redhead had taught herself when it came to pencil drawing, which required just the opposite. It was a lot to take in, sure, but it wasn't all _that_ difficult.

On her way out the door, Ruby muttered a 'thank you' to Coco for that photo of Weiss. The brunette only put on a cheshire grin, then handed the redhead a wrapped package. It was shaped like a thin book, possibly a magazine. She quietly mentioned that the girl should 'enjoy it in private.'

* * *

…

* * *

Wednesday. Time for round 2.

Having brought home a fair share of embarrassment over her failed attempt, Ruby spent all of the previous evening studying various painting techniques on the internet and had gained a small understanding of what Weiss had said.

Her second attempt proved _much_ better, as she blended a very nice backdrop together. The young Schnee was honestly impressed by the feat.

And then she started on the main subject too soon. The new colors quickly wiped the old away, blending everything all wrong. Ruby very nearly cried in frustration.

Weiss tried to give her some encouragement, but the damage had been done – or so she thought.

It was then she learned of the one _true_ advantage painters had over pencil artists: _retries_. When working with pencils of any type, fixing mistakes tended to mean lots of erasing and brushing away the odd rubber bits, or outright starting over if the work was too far gone. With paint, all you had to do was _repaint right over the old work_. This was …revolutionary to the girl. Even more so when she learned that nearly _all_ the old masters of painting did the _same freaking thing!_

By the end of the day, Ruby had managed to eke out something that could pass for a decent painting. Even Ms. Fall gave it a nod of approval (at least, Ruby _hoped_ it was approval).

But all of this was nearly forgotten by the time the bell rang, because Weiss… Weiss had… she…

Weiss _hugged_ her before they left.

 _Hugged_ her.

Ruby was sure that her head would explode from the pressure of all the blood in her body rushing up into it.

The redhead couldn't sleep that night. Her nose was filled with the scent of lilac and gooseberries.

The gentle smell of Weiss' perfume.

She had also taken a look at Coco's … _gift_.

Well, _lots_ of looks actually. For about an hour.

Mainly while locked in the bathroom with the fan running. Yang didn't bother her, thank all the gods.

* * *

…

* * *

Thursday afternoon found Ruby finishing up in the restroom just before last period. Art class would be starting soon, and she was _not_ looking forward to …instructing Weiss. All she'd had to do was smile and nod for the last two days, but now that she had to _speak…_ hoo boy.

And then Coco walked in. Ruby soon had a whole _new_ problem to deal with.

Before Ruby could get away, the brunette purred, "So… did you enjoy my little… _gift?_ "

She stopped, face red, and sputtered, "I-I-I don't know wh-wh-what you're t-t-talking ab-b-bout…"

Coco feigned shock, throwing her hand over her mouth theatrically, "Oh, my… you mean you… _you didn't like it?!_ "

Ruby went from awkward to indignant. "L-l-like it? Why d-d-did you give me a… le-le-lesbian-"

A hand quickly went over the redhead's mouth, and two surprisingly powerful arms pulled the two teens into a nearby stall. The lock clicked shut a moment later. They heard the bathroom door open, and a pair of shoes walked in and stopped. Then there was the noise of the sink, followed by exactly 2 seconds of air dryer noise, more footsteps, then silence.

Coco finally let go of Ruby, quietly saying, "I figured you'd enjoy it, was all. Since you're a… you know." She followed that up with a grin. Her eyes gleamed behind the gradient hairpiece.

"I'm a _what?_ " Ruby whispered harshly. She didn't even know _why_ she was whispering, but couldn't help it.

Coco leaned towards her face a bit _too_ close, and breathed, "You can't fool me, sweet cheeks. I can _smell_ my own kind…" The hand that had covered Ruby's mouth now lingered near her cheek, fingers brushing against her face in gentle, sweeping motions. "Especially after that little tiff you had with Weiss last week, I knew right away you were… _like me_ …"

Coco's other hand began reaching around, resting on Ruby's lower back.

"Maybe I could… _educate you_ on what I'm talking about…?"

Their bodies drew close, Ruby could feel the heat from Coco's ample chest. They were _almost_ touching each other…

The brunette barely breathed, "…Whaddya say?"

There was a loud _bang_ as the bathroom door was slammed open, followed by a very angry, _"RUBY ROSE! I know you're in here!"_ It was Weiss.

Both Ruby and Coco petrified where they stood. Adrenaline sure has a funny taste…

"Ms. Fall sent me after you. _You're late._ "

Surprised, Coco glanced at her watch. Yep, they were almost 10 minutes tardy. Ruby shot the taller teen a glare. Coco just looked innocent, fluttering her eyelids in a look that said _you're-in-trouble-but-I'm-not_.

"You too, Coco." Weiss' voice carried a growl this time.

The brunette's face shattered. Ruby stifled a laugh.

A few minutes later, all three teens made their short walk down the hall. Weiss quietly asked, "Are you okay, Ruby? She didn't do anything to you, did she?"

"I'm fine Weiss. Thanks for asking, though." The redhead kept her gaze on the floor as they walked.

"You sure?"

"Yeah," she nodded, more to herself than to Weiss, "I'm good." She felt the beginnings of a smile start to creep up on her, thanks mostly to the good mood they seemed to be sharing right then...

"Oh good. You're… ready to teach me, then?"

 _So much for the good mood…_ Ruby deflated a bit, but responded, "Yeah, I guess so…"

She walked into the room before Weiss, not bothering to look back. If she did, she might have noticed the young Schnee wearing a rather confused look on her face, mixed with a small amount of concern.

* * *

…

* * *

Even though Ruby was apprehensive about teaching Weiss the finer points (yay puns!) of pencil drawing, she found it rather easy to keep talking once she got started.

She likened drawing to building a structure: start out with a base form, or skeleton, then build on top of that. You make it darker and darker as you go, eventually getting the finished shape just the way you want it. It tends to get a bit messy (and this method takes _lots_ of erasing), but if you want an image of decent quality, you can't really go wrong.

To her delight, Weiss picked up on this concept remarkably fast. In almost no time at all the platinum blonde had made a good image of the vase of flowers, even having some shading… although the biggest achievement was getting the proportions right. For Ruby, _this_ was _her_ biggest challenge.

The redhead admitted that she mostly used a less common and, often, more challenging method for her drawings – in short, she would take a mental snapshot of her subject, mentally convert it into a line drawing in her head, then use her hands to etch out that image onto paper. She would then fix and improve the drawing from there. It was a sloppy technique that caused lots of mistakes (mainly in proportions), but it was the way Ruby most enjoyed the medium.

Ruby _did_ notice Weiss' expression this time. The girl had a very pleasant smile during the explanation.

By the end of Thursday's class, Weiss was mainly happy that Ruby was feeling better. That whole fiasco last weekend was still a mess, but it was good to see that she was okay.

Ruby very nearly said what she was thinking right then… but kept it to herself. She'd rather _not_ go home with a Weiss-shaped handprint across her face, thank you very much.

Instead she got another hug… this time she was anticipating it. Ruby hugged back, taking in a deeper sample of the girl's smell. She realized later just how loud she had been when taking the sniff.

The platinum blonde went still for a split second before letting go. She noticed. Dammit.

Oh well.

Back to her magazine…

* * *

…

* * *

Then came Friday. This was a big day. In many ways…

They didn't have a subject today, but Ms. Fall still had them continue with the self-teaching project. Ruby had an idea this time.

Using both of their faces, Ruby started instructing Weiss on how she went about making a pencil drawing portrait. She would hold still and let Weiss try drawing her, then have Weiss hold still so she could draw the young Schnee. It was a bit rough and they scrambled a bit to try and re-find their original poses, but overall they enjoyed themselves.

Ruby realized only too late just how much she had been staring into Weiss' eyes the entire time.

But then, she and Weiss were both in 'the zone' pretty much all period, so they didn't notice.

They were both still affected, though.

…

The bell had rung, and most of the other students had already left. The last few were making their way out. Ms. Fall had stepped out as well to run something to the teacher's office on the other side of campus, but she'd be right back.

Ruby and Weiss were left alone in the classroom.

Weiss began, "Ruby …are you sure you're okay? Your face is red…"

 _Only because I've been staring at you too long…_ "I'm fine Weiss. Don't worry."

"Mmm… I just don't want you to be scared of me, that's all."

Ruby's brow furrowed deeply _...The hell? Did she say... scared?_

The platinum blonde paused, unsure of how to continue. "Look, I… I know I asked something stupid of you, and I know I made it seem like I felt one way, but I think I was wrong to ask you that way. I'm okay with us just being friends if that's all you want, because I…"

She never finished her sentence.

Because Ruby had grabbed her head with both hands and kissed her. With all her might.

She didn't, couldn't, hold it for very long... but _dammit_ it was long enough.

The redhead broke the kiss off and quickly grabbed her stuff and bolted for the door. As she started off down the hall, she _just_ registered the sound of a body sitting _hard_ into a nearby chair in the room behind her.

And no, she _didn't_ know what she was doing. Nor did she care.

She just _desperately_ needed to get home to her magazine before she did anything else she might regret even more.

...

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, so I'm back… for now…**

 **I've been wanting to get this part put out for a little while, so I figured now was better than never. I needed something to get them** _ **official**_ **in some form. After this, I'll shift focus to the other pairings for a bit. As a reminder, those pairings include Crosshares (Coco X Velvet), Cornflakes (Jaune X Pyrrha), and one other that I'm reffering to as 'implied' for now.**

 **For any readers wondering about my other project, you'll have to wait a bit longer… I've got** _ **big things**_ **in the works.**


	7. The Aftermath

**Author's Note: Wow, …two months? Where has the time gone?**

 **This chapter will be short, since I just wanted to cover the aftermath for now. I know I left you guys at a pretty hard spot to just** _ **stop**_ **at. So sorry.**

* * *

 **...**

* * *

...

Ruby was mere inches away from burning that damned magazine… and she would have had every right to. After all, look what it made her do…

She _kissed_ Weiss today.

 _Kissed_ her.

Dammit.

It was now late Friday night and Ruby found herself standing in her back yard, watching the bonfire with the detached interest of a young adult just learning to appreciate the beauty of man's fire. In her hand was the magazine, rolled up and shaking along with her trembling form. Her face had not faded from the beet-red color it took on when she bolted from the art room a few hours ago. Tears could be seen in the corners of her eyes, glimmering in the light of the flames.

 _God. Damn. It. I can NOT believe I did that! Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT! I'll never be able to face her again! She's probably cursing my name! Stupid, stupid, STUPID-!_

Her mind had run away with itself again, as it did so often when she least expected it to. She had registered Weiss saying something about her being scared… which she _wasn't_ … and then she wanted to prove that she wasn't…

Ruby's free hand absently touched her lips. Her mind lingered back to that moment, the smell of Weiss' perfume still swimming around in her brain. The touch of her lips still tingled like faint electricity. The redhead never imagined it could be that good…

And then came the image of the girl's face after the deed was done… that look of shock and confusion… and probably a hint of betrayal… killing what little good mood she had managed to build.

And weren't they _finally_ becoming better friends? True it had only been a couple of weeks, but still…

 _What have I done?_

Ruby had made it back home in record time today, running the entire two-and-a-half miles. Luckily for her, Yang took just long enough for Ruby to finish making a scene in the bathroom (almost screaming at herself in the mirror) before getting home herself. The redhead spent the next few hours curled up under the covers, quietly weeping to herself for being _so damn stupid_ …

And it was all this damn magazine's fault… right?

As she glanced at the rolled up item in her hand again, she realized that even if that wasn't the case, that didn't mean she had any right or reason to keep it (she _was_ underage, after all). With a casual toss Ruby removed the picture book from her life forever.

She silently watched the pages crinkle and blacken, slowly turning to ash in the orange light. All around her the sounds of the night had begun, a full choir of small frogs, crickets, and various other musical creatures.

She stayed that way for the next hour, watching the fire burn itself out as the world around her grew darker. A dense cover of clouds meant that there would be neither moon nor stars to light the sleeping world.

With a small chuckle, Ruby thought _Funny… I've never considered ending myself… before now…_

* * *

…

* * *

...

Weiss didn't remember much of anything after the kiss. Her brain had been properly _scrambled._

The young Schnee had somehow made it all the way home, taken a shower, and even ate her supper… all before she even realized she had left school.

The kiss was all she was thinking about. That, and the redhead it came from.

Nothing made sense anymore. At first Weiss was _sure_ , to the point she would have bet _money_ on it, that Ruby just wanted to be friends (and she wasn't entirely wrong on that front, by the way).

But then she realized that no, Ruby _had_ to be scared. Weiss had simply misread her signals and asked a question that led to mistaken answers (also not entirely wrong).

Then suddenly the girl plants a _mighty_ kiss on her… leaving the platinum blonde dizzy for several minutes.

So which thought was right? Were _any_ of them right? _All_ of them? Was Ruby an alien, sent as an advance scout before the invasion?

 _Ruby Rose…_

Weiss remained in a state of partial consciousness for the better part of the evening. She didn't notice when she grabbed her new sketch book (she had bought one herself since she decided to take Ruby's teaching seriously), nor did she realize what she was drawing in it… not until the portrait was almost done…

Seeing the image snapped Weiss out of her trance. Her pale complexion turned a deep shade of red as she very nearly tore out the picture in embarrassment…

She had sketched a picture of Ruby – with large, feathery angel wings.

It wasn't a _good_ picture to be sure, since Weiss still had a long way to go before she had reached Ruby's level, but the resemblance was close enough to cause the young Schnee to hold back on her outburst. Instead, she did something that, when she thought back on it, would have given her cause to bury herself in a pile of dirt to escape the embarrassment (if anyone had actually seen her do it).

She lightly caressed the image. Specifically, Ruby's face.

When did _this_ start? She honestly didn't know… but somewhere along the line Weiss had begun to find the redhead rather charming. Likeable. Beautiful, even. Velvet had been right back then, …Ruby _was_ pretty cute.

And she had kissed Weiss. Did that mean that she actually _did_ … like her?

Weiss' face went back to a full blush at the thought. She stood up from her desk, walked over to her bed with stiff knees, knelt down next to the mattress, grabbed the nearest pillow… and squealed into it, forcing the material over her mouth to keep every decibel muffled.

She didn't know for sure how Ruby felt. It was just a kiss, after all. But that didn't matter.

Weiss wanted more. The thought of burying her hands in those short locks of red hair was very enticing. The thought of sharing the warmth of their bodies was …intoxicating.

The thought of repeating that kiss… it was enough to make her pass out.

…

Which she did. The girl would wake up a few hours later with very sore knees.

 _Tomorrow's Saturday... I wonder if she has any plans..._

 _Maybe I should pay her a visit..._

…

* * *

...

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, be honest… was that too fast? I feel like I might have rushed a few of these things, I dunno. Gimme some feedback, dammit!**

 ***ahem* Sorry. A bit cranky, I guess. But seriously, I'm starting to feel the 'incomplete story' blues about now. I have some ideas for keeping this whole thing running after the initial part of the story (which is almost done), but only if you people want more. After all, the school year has barely started…**


	8. The End of the Beginning, Part 1

**Author's Note: It might still be a** _ **bit**_ **fast for some of you people, but here we go anyway. This should wrap up the whole will-they-won't-they scenario for you all. Enjoy.**

* * *

…

…

* * *

Three knocks. No more, no less.

Weiss stood at the front door with baited breath. She wasn't even sure Ruby was home, but here she was, knocking like some kind of door-to-door salesman with a new makeup product… or maybe an overgrown Girl Scout…

She didn't have long to wait, however. Rapid footsteps made themselves known and the door was practically _flung_ open – and Weiss suddenly found herself face-to-face with a tall, good-looking blonde girl who she did not know. The blonde's face quickly dropped from relieved to dismayed. Or maybe annoyed.

"And what do _you_ want, Ice Queen?" she growled. Weiss ignored the impromptu nickname and paid more attention to the girl's body language: she had quickly crossed her arms as she spoke. The taller teen was clearly irritated at something.

She tried a polite, conversational tone first, "My name is Weiss Schnee and I –"

"I know _who_ you are… what I want to know is _why_ you're here. At my door."

"I… I'm here to talk to Ruby. Is she in?" Weiss' tone had fallen considerably as she spoke… since she also didn't know exactly what to say in this situation.

Just getting this far had been enough of a nightmare. After her mini-breakdown the previous night, Weiss had spent most of this morning getting herself cleaned up… but not because she was getting ready for a _date_ or anything. The next hour was spent picking out her clothes… but not for a _date_ , goodness no. The rest of the time was spent in rehearsal – trying out multiple lines and apologies for when she would inevitably meet the redhead again… but they weren't _dating_ … right?

And now she stood in front of the home Ruby lived in (it was a small duplex closer to the school than her own home was). She came dressed in a white halter top beneath a sky-blue button up shirt and a dark blue skirt with matching pumps. Nice enough for a day out and about.

"Ruby isn't here. In fact, I haven't seen her since last night. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that… _would you?"_ The teen's voice carried a clear threat.

Weiss paled. This was one scenario she hadn't planned for.

…

The blonde teenager (who introduced herself as one Yang Xiao Long) wore a faded denim work shirt over a yellow tank top and black cargo shorts. Her long hair was positively _glowing_ – Weiss made a mental note to ask what sort of shampoo the girl used. At least, when it made sense to broach the topic. Now was _not_ that time.

Once inside, Yang only offered the young Schnee a glass of water. They were only silent for a few minutes before Weiss explained ( _tried_ to, anyway) what had happened the day before.

The kiss, in other words.

"Well that explains why she ran the whole freaking way home yesterday… and why she wouldn't talk to me at all… hell, she wouldn't even _look_ at me…" The blonde ran a hand through her bangs in frustration. "But where the hell would she go? We don't have any hangout spots in town…"

"'Hangout spots?'"

"Yeah, just… places we go to chill for a while… stores, library, stuff like that. Truth is, we haven't been in this town for too long. Moved here less than two months ago."

Weiss nodded. That explained quite a bit, actually. The girl had noticed a few unpacked boxes in the far corner of the living room as soon as she walked in.

Yang stretched her arms over her head, then grunted, "Well, …if she's been on the move since last night, we'll have quite a time trying to find her. Dad doesn't get off work 'til 9, so we can't bum a ride from him. I don't suppose you have a car… or maybe a personal driver you can call up?"

"I have a scooter."

This time Yang paled. Neither teen spoke for a beat.

"A scooter."

"Yep."

"…Seriously?"

"Yep." Weiss fought back a grin at Yang's discomfort.

The blonde almost seemed to … _deflate._ If that was possible.

Out in the front yard, Yang was introduced to Weiss' motorized scooter – a midnight blue, 5-speed, two-seater with a spare helmet. Not the fastest thing on the road, but good enough to get the young Schnee from point A to point B without breaking down.

The blonde could only stare at the sad excuse for a vehicle with an empty smile. She made one comment, a choice four-letter word that Weiss didn't care to hear ever again.

…

Yang quickly dubbed it The Devil's Scooter.

Not only was it _far_ slower than she would have liked, but the extra seat was rather …small. And it was a rough ride. She knew her bottom could only take so much before she simply jumped off… and that wouldn't hurt too badly, considering the speed they were getting.

She was also ready to reach out and punch the next bicycle rider who _dared_ to pass them.

Weiss took them around the few shopping plaza's they'd visited or frequented in the time they'd been here, but to no avail. No Ruby. Checking the town library and movie theater fared no better. They had been reduced to wandering the streets like kids looking for their parents at a grocery store. They occasionally tried calling her name. Both teens knew their necks would be sore for some time after this was over.

The platinum blonde spent most of the drive lost in thought. Why would Ruby run away? Did she get scared and decided to simply ditch Weiss… _and_ her own sister, for some reason? That didn't make much sense… In any case, she would get no more answers until they finally found –

A small beeping pulled her attention back to the real world. Yang's phone got a message. Less than a minute later, the blonde almost shouted, " _The train station, east side of town, now! Hurry!"_

"What? What are you – "

"Just trust me. I got a lead. A good one."

As they puttered away, heading down the road and the 5-6 miles before them, Yang read the message again.

 _If you're looking for Ruby, she's headed  
for the eastern train station. Thought  
you might want to know._

 _-L0ngcat:3_

* * *

…

…

* * *

…

The patrons at the corner coffee shop buzzed around, ignoring the teen sitting at the far table. She was the only customer who paid any mind to the two teenage girls riding down the road on their tiny little scooter …mainly due to the fact that she was now involved in their little runaround whether she liked it or not.

The brunette flipped her phone closed (it was an older model – what Coco would call a 'dinosaur') and mumbled, "Sorry Ruby. I told."

Blake counted herself lucky to have gotten Yang's number from her sister, but wondered if it was worth it… after all, they still had a terrible amount of things to sort out, didn't they? And based on what Ruby had told her today, the redhead _really_ had a lot of things to sort out.

As the little vehicle puttered out of sight, Blake muttered, "Good luck you guys…"

* * *

…

…

* * *

…

Evening now. The sun had just dipped below the horizon line, painting the world in a red haze. Traffic on the roads was in a lull, somewhere between the rush of people going home from work and the late dinner crowd. It was rather quiet for a Saturday night.

Ruby Rose sat on a bench at the train depot, waiting for the number 19. The train that would take her away from the _horrible_ mess she'd made. The train that would take her home.

No, not the house she currently lived in with Dad and Yang… but _home_.

There was still one person there who loved her, after all… even _if_ she was buried in the ground.

The redhead didn't even bother going back inside the house after burning the magazine last night. She just walked. And walked. Past store fronts she never looked at, past restaurants she never ate in, and past homes she never knew existed. She must have walked for hours before she stopped, coming to rest in front of a seemingly random coffee shop on the corner of Anywhere Ave. and Nowhere St.

And who did she meet first? Blake, of course. The girl who had been avoiding her like the plague.

...

Ruby kept her hands tucked into the pockets of her red hoodie, keeping her head low. She leaned forward on the bench and scratched the back of her head as she thought about her conversation earlier that day. And smiled.

Apparently Jaune had finally just come out and asked (begged?) Blake to talk to Ruby the next time they met. Just get it out in the open and repair their broken friendship. He couldn't bear to see them like this anymore.

Oddly enough, she agreed. Ruby didn't remember _everything_ that was said today, but the crux of the situation was made quite clear. A long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away… ha-ha) Yang screwed up _big-time_ and Blake punched her in the face for it. They were both in third grade, by the way, which made it all the funnier to the redhead.

Not that it was _supposed_ to be funny… Ruby wasn't really thinking straight right now.

And who could blame her? It had just been one screw-up after another and she'd only been in that god-forsaken school for, like, _two weeks!_ What was she gonna do next, streak across the football field at halftime?

That might actually be _less_ embarrassing than what she'd already done.

It took almost no time at all before Ruby learned a bit about Weiss Schnee (dubbed the 'Ice Queen' by many other students). She was quite popular with most of the boys due to her looks, but she was also a hit with the teachers – a little 'teacher's pet,' in other words. Good manners, very neat and tidy… for all rights and purposes, she was a princess.

Which made Ruby the freaking _court jester_. God dammit!

She knocked the side of her head in frustration, a move she'd been doing a lot these last few hours, and her head was starting to hurt because of it. Didn't matter. She was still pissed at herself.

How could she be so. Freaking. STUPID?!

Oddly enough… she never questioned _why_ she did what she did. That much, at least, was never up for debate.

She was in love with Weiss. Like, _in love._ To the point where she was making herself sick.

...

A distant whistle pulled her back to reality as the number 19 finally rolled into the station and stopped just in front of her seat. Less than a dozen other people were also waiting for the train, and these all quickly got on board.

Ruby faltered. All of a sudden, when faced with the real possibility of _running away from home_ … she began to get scared.

It was Yang she was thinking of. The blonde was the only family she really had for most of her life – Ruby's memories of her mother were few and far between. Still good, but nowhere near as fresh as the more recent ones. And there was Dad, too. The man would likely lapse into another drinking binge if she disappeared…

The conductor caught her eye, wordlessly asking _You still getting on?_

Ruby nodded, swallowed hard, then stepped forward… only to be stopped dead in her tracks. Her hood was …stuck on something?

As she turned to look, her gaze locked onto a familiar pair of ice-blue eyes. Weiss Schnee stood behind her, holding Ruby's hood in a death grip. Keeping her from getting on the train.

The redhead didn't even breath. Her eyes grew wide.

Weiss was panting a little, like she'd just been running. She was wearing a nice set of clothes, but nothing that looked like it was fit for jogging. She also had a thin layer of sweat, despite the chill in the air.

The two teens stood still for a several minutes… much longer than the conductor was willing to wait, it seemed. The horn blew moments before the doors shut. The train departed minutes later.

They didn't even seem to notice. Their eyes never left each other's gaze.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Ruby turned back and faced the young Schnee, her head hanging low. Weiss let go of the hood, but seemed ready to grab it again if the girl made another break for it.

"Weiss, I… I…" Ruby barely managed a whisper. The taller girl simply stood silently. Waiting.

The redhead cleared her throat and tried again. "I'm so… sorry… I did something I can't take back… I probably scared you… embarrassed you… hell, I embarrassed _myself_ … I just… I'm… _I don't want you to hate me!_ " Now the tears began to leak out, her throat closing up tight. "I'm so… *sniff* sorry, …Weiss…" *sniff*

She might have said more, but she never got the chance. Before she could choke out another word, a soft hand reached under her chin and grabbed it with her fingers, lifting it ever-so-gently to face the platinum blonde.

Unlike their encounter the previous day, this kiss was slow, precise, and entirely on purpose. Nothing here was done on impulse. And the difference was clear – yesterday's kiss left a tingle of electricity, but this time Ruby felt like she had her finger in a light socket. There was _power_ here.

And a bit of tongue. That was always a bonus.

…

Even though they didn't force the issue, Ruby was still out of breath by the time they separated. Her silver eyes had glazed over as she stared at the taller teen.

"I never said I hated you… Ruby Rose." Weiss practically _purred_ her name. Ruby's skin broke out in goosebumps.

The redhead's brain once again acted on it's own accord, normal in the event of her conscious mind taking a leave of absence. "Weiss… will you go out with me?" she said dreamily.

The young Schnee blinked, a look of surprise splashed over her face, then she giggled. Sudden outbursts like that were one of the things about Ruby she was finding unbearably cute. The redhead also blinked at the sound of the laughter, realized what she said, then turned red and began sputtering an apology.

Before she got more than a word out, Weiss said, "Yes."

This stopped Ruby mid-word. "...Pardon me?"

"Yes, Ruby. I will go out with you." Deep down Weiss was hoping Ruby couldn't hear her heart pounding.

The redhead made an adorable squeaking noise, then quickly covered her mouth with both hands. Both teens shared a good laugh. They needed it.

…

…

Yang sat on The Devil's Scooter less than 50 feet away, watching the entire exchange. She had fully intended to be the one to stop Ruby from getting on that train, but was amazed when Weiss beat her to it. That girl was something else.

The blonde resigned herself to simply watching. At least this all had been settled.

"I see you guys made it," a voice from the past spoke up behind her, causing a wave of gooseflesh to break out on Yang's arms. Lavender eyes slowly turned to look.

Blake Belladonna stood to one side of the parking lot, arms crossed, gazing at the two reunited teenagers. Not looking at Yang. Perfectly understandable.

A red-hot needle of pain stabbed Yang through the chest at the sight of the brunette. _Damn… still hurts._

"Yep… thanks to you, I guess."

"Monday. The track. After school." Amber-colored eyes locked onto Yang at last, narrowed in a thinly veiled threat. "Be there."

Yang didn't reply, only nodded. Message received. With her business finished, Blake turned and walked away. The blonde turned back to the object of her earlier search… only to find a scene that left her blushing. Hard.

" _Jeez_ , …get a room you two…"

…

* * *

…

…

* * *

 **A/N: Don't get too comfortable… I still have one more chapter to add before I consider this part of the story to be finished.**

 **And no, that won't be the end. Not yet. :)**


	9. The End of the Beginning, Part 2

**And now, the moment you've all been waiting for… (I think)**

* * *

…

…

* * *

…

 _The two young girls were just coming out of the classroom for the day, walking together on their way to the parking lot of the elementary school. Yang is considering whether or not she should hold Blake's hand, but decides not to. She likes Blake…_ likes _her… but doesn't want to scare her. Just walking is fine._

 _Blake is talking about the movie they watched last night during their sleepover. It was some romantic comedy that Yang didn't remember the title of. Blake loved it, so Yang tried to enjoy it. She found it boring, though._

 _While Blake is talking about the movie, Yang is looking at Blake's hair, her eyes, her neck. Even though they're only about 8 years old, Yang is very attracted to Blake. She wants to kiss her, but can't bring herself to do it. She doesn't think Blake feels the same way she does._

 _Blake mentions the idea of a 'first kiss,' and that she wants to make sure that hers is 'super special.' She wants to save it for the man who she will spend the rest of her life with. Her eyes sparkle like gold as she says this, and Yang can't help herself any longer._

 _Yang grabs Blake by the shoulders so she can't get away and gives her a kiss on the lips._

 _More accurately,_ steals _Blake's first kiss._

 _Blake is shocked at first, then upset and almost crying, then furious. She is screaming at Yang for doing that, but Yang is happy she did it. Blake throws a punch, misses, punches again and breaks Yang's nose. Yang is bleeding now, badly, but Blake doesn't stop. She is very angry indeed. How could you, she asks. Demands. Yang knows now that Blake will likely hate her for this._

 _By the time the grown-ups come over to stop the fight, Yang has taken several hits. None did any more damage than the one on the nose. And none hurt as much as Blake's look of utter betrayal._

 _Blake's parents are ready to take Yang's family to court, but they settle it 'outside of court,' as her daddy puts it. Both families move away from each other with the agreement that neither child should ever see each other again._

 _Apparently they never bothered to keep track of where Yang was._

* * *

…

…

* * *

…

Yang and Blake were having their first real conversation in eight years.

They hadn't even _seen_ each other during that time, other than the one encounter during the weekend. Blake had been a big help and was the major reason they'd kept Ruby Rose from running away from home (and heading _back_ home, if that made any sense), but now that Blake's story was out in the open, it was time for a little reconciliation.

Yang honestly didn't even know Blake was going to Oum High, even when they met at the train station – but she figured it out pretty quickly… especially in the way the brunette demanded Yang's presence. Now it was the appointed time and Yang was nervous. Really nervous.

And early. Really early. Blake must have meant a specific time, or maybe after a–

"You're here. Good."

The blonde's nerves were tight enough that even those few words almost set her off. She had been standing by the side door of the main building, looking out in hopes that she might spot Blake first, …but of course the brunette had gotten behind her. Sneaky little thing…

Yang tried to start with a smile, saying, "H-hey, Blake… g-good aftern–"

"Walk with me," the brunette snapped and made her way to the middle of the practice field. Yang followed with a heavy sigh.

Yang Xiao Long's day had already been a bit stressful, mainly because of the impending meeting she'd have to deal with after school was out. Introducing herself to Ruby's group of friends wasn't much help (although it _was_ neat to get to know the people Blake was friendly with, even just for a bit).

Both she and Blake were dressed casually – normal t-shirt and blue jeans on each, although Blake seemed to prefer black while Yang wore yellow. The sky above them was only partly cloudy, letting the air temperature dip down to a level that most of the students seemed to really enjoy. Yang preferred a more tepid climate, personally.

Yes, she was drifting. In her defense, the walk was taking a while – Yang was _trying_ not to lose focus too badly.

Once in the center of the field, Blake Belladonna stopped, turned around, crossed her arms, and stared at Yang. Or rather, _glared._

Hard to believe she was still pissed after this long.

Yang had tried to prepare some witty comment, a joke, or even a basic _hey-how-are-ya?_ …but all that fell apart here. There was only one thing the brunette wanted right now, and even Yang could see what it was.

"Blake… I'm sorry."

No response… unless you counted one of her eyebrows twitching.

"What I did back then was stupid, insensitive and rude…"

"…Don't forget thoughtless."

"And thoughtless, yes." Yang was nodding in exasperation. "The point is, I know what I did was wrong and I'm really sorry… Will you forgive me?"

Almost a minute went by without a word, then Blake un-crossed her arms and slowly walked forward. Yang's hands went up on instinct, ready to block if it came to blows again…

But it didn't. Blake embraced the blonde in a gentle hug instead. "That's all I wanted to hear, Yang. Yes …I forgive you."

The blonde blinked as she stepped back, "Really? That's all?"

A sly grin came next as Blake added, "Well… I _was_ ready to unpack all kinds of emotional baggage on you… hoping to guilt-trip you into it…"

The waving hands went up, "Oh no-no-no, there's no need for that. We're all good… right?"

The two teenagers laughed lightly for a bit, but Blake's smile faded soon after. "Yang… what you did really hurt me. You _knew_ how much my first kiss meant to me… yet you still took it from me."

Yang's smile faded now, but she remained quiet.

"It took a long time for me to trust anybody after that all happened. Forcing yourself on me like that, even _if_ we were only eight years old… that hurt me. You _betrayed_ me, Yang…"

The blonde was now looking intently at some grass off to the side and muttered, "…I thought you said you forgave me?"

"I did, …I _do_ …" Blake put her hand on the blonde's shoulder in a comforting manner, "But I needed you to know how I felt. I needed to _tell_ you."

They exchanged a look that simply said _It's-okay-don't-worry-about-it,_ then turned to walk back inside. Both girls seemed to walk with lighter steps, as though the weight of the guilt and past offenses were physically dropping off of them, left behind in the grass.

Maybe they were friends again? Yang hoped so, at least.

Just before they reached the door, Yang looked over and said, "…Since we're all buddy-buddy now, can I confess something?"

Blake stopped and looked over, but didn't say anything.

"Even after you slugged me back then… even after we moved away… I never regretted doing it."

Amber eyes widened briefly, then narrowed as they searched lavender ones for any sign of that old spark that had already caused so much trouble. She only found the girl's normal mischief. Teasing, in other words.

"I should warn you against doing something like that again," Blake said with a half-grin. "I have a boyfriend now."

Yang could only bark a laugh to the sky at a comment like that. " _HA!_ Warn me, huh? Unless he's some kind of world heavyweight champion, I could knock his ass halfway across this town…"

"I doubt that. He's a Kung-Fu master. Name's Sun Wukong."

" _Ooh, a wee-little oriental man? How cute…"_ Yang took on a mockingly high voice to tease her with.

"Six-foot, 195 pounds is not exactly _wee-little_ …"

Yang's squeaking quit right there. Her smile fled and her face grew just a little bit pale as they made their way in.

On the plus side, Blake wasn't mad at her anymore.

* * *

…

…

* * *

…

Two weeks passed after that. Two whole weeks of peace.

Ruby Rose came back to class and only a handful of students had an inkling that anything had happened… but many of them could tell something had changed in the redhead. It was in the way she carried herself, the look on her face – gone was the shy, sidewalk-facing introvert that first arrived. Now she was a shy, _forward_ -facing introvert. One step at a time.

Weiss Schnee had also changed, but not much. After realizing how her lack of knowledge almost cost her a friendship, the young heiress made a serious effort to learn as much of the 'modern language' as she could. Fortunately, she had plenty of prospective 'tutors' to ask – _un_ fortunately, one of them was Coco Adel. Poor Weiss. None of them would soon forget the girl's face the day she first learned what a 'dildo' was. Priceless.

Blake Belladonna finally returned to her spot in front of the library, rejoining the rest of the gang. Coco didn't pry too far into what had happened (luckily), but she seemed relieved that the elephant in the room had finally been taken care of. Jaune also seemed relieved. He made mention of getting a little part-time job somewhere in town that hired high-school kids, but didn't say where. The only reason he gave was 'video game money' …as if that explained everything.

Yang Xiao Long finally made an effort to meet Ruby's friends. They all seemed to hit it off pretty well – of course, the blonde couldn't help but pick at Jaune over his 'nerd fashion.' Ruby seemed to think that Yang and Coco would get along just fine… for some reason.

...

Cinder Fall's role in this story wasn't exactly done, either. With only a few weeks of school marked off the calendar, the woman was just getting started.

The two weeks following Ruby's attempted running away gave the class quite a few things to think about. No less than three projects came and went, each focusing on a specific medium rather than their usual self-study. Ruby had already mastered the basic colored pencil, so _that_ one was easy enough. Weiss took to the soft pastels rather well, while Ruby absolutely _hated_ them. They were a total mess – and she _hated_ getting dirty, remember? Finally they tried their hand at straight-up ink drawing (using no pencil at all). Both Ruby and Weiss found themselves at a loss. It was much more difficult than they expected… but they still enjoyed themselves, so that was a thing.

They also had another of Ms. Fall's custom assignments. Ruby's task was to produce a drawing of a crowded room, fully detailed, using a single color (other than black). It also had to be 11' x 14' – a size that was larger than the redhead was normally accustomed to working with.

To avoid boring you with the finer details, Ruby finished the drawing in a slate-grey monochrome. She was quite proud of it, actually. When she turned it in, Ms. Fall gave it another one of her raised-eyebrow reactions.

By this point in time Ruby had finally caught wind of how important that look might be. Apparently the woman was a nationally acclaimed art critic and one of the most respected professionals in the entire business. For her to be impressed by _anything_ a high-school girl could do, well …there was no telling _what_ that might mean.

Oh well… that was neither here nor there.

Ruby had other things to think about.

* * *

…

…

* * *

…

Just before they entered McNee's Pizza, Ruby and Weiss were nervous. Which was normal for a first date.

Even though it _wasn't_ a date. They were just getting dinner. Yeah, that's all. Dinner.

Not that you could've convinced _them_ of that while they were getting dressed, oh no. They had to have the _perfect_ outfits for tonight. Nothing less would be acceptable.

Ruby went with a rather tame look – red button-up shirt with sleeves rolled up to her elbows, along with a pair of black jeans and her hiking boots. She also had a small silver pendant hanging from her neck (on loan from Yang).

Weiss chose a lighter, more formal ensemble – a white sleeveless shirt with a thin sky-blue scarf, coupled with a pair of dark-blue capris and matching pumps (of course). Her platinum blonde hair was still tied in a ponytail, only now it was lower on her head, down by her neck. It was a small adjustment that made a big difference, at least as far as Ruby was concerned.

So yes, they were nervous just before walking in.

...

After they got inside… not so much. Now they had company.

Coco saw them first and waved them over, not minding in the least that the two had come in together (and dressed a little nicer than eating at a pizza place would call for). Sitting with her was Blake, surprise surprise. The former was busy stuffing her face with a slice from a large pepperoni pizza with black olives while the latter was nibbling on cheesy bread with one hand and holding a book with the other. Blake actually _did_ notice the fact that both Weiss and Ruby had entered together. She grinned, knowing.

"Hey guys! Uh… fancy meeting you here, and all that…" Ruby greeted them awkwardly.

"Yep," Coco nodded, her gradient bang bobbing with the movement, "nothing quite like a pizza on a Friday night, am I right?" Blake only nodded, not taking her eyes from the page. The taller teen turned back and said, "Pull up a seat, there's plenty of room!"

Weiss was the one who looked around and said, rather puzzled, "Where's Jaune? Did you leave him behind somewhere?"

Coco chuckled a bit and said, "Uh, yeah, about that…"

"I should have known _you two_ would show up too…" a familiar, annoyed voice spoke up behind them.

Jaune Arc was wearing a large, dirty apron and pushing a cart loaded with dirty dishes. He also didn't look too happy.

The brown-garbed girl didn't look very apologetic as she said, "Yeah, sorry… maybe we could invite you next time?"

"No need to pity me, Coco. It's not like I _enjoy_ Friday nights… hanging out with friends… having a good time… no, I'd rather clean dirty dishes all night… and get paid minimum wage… but have fun..." Each time he spoke, a small vein on Jaune's forehead grew larger and larger. The four girls chuckled nervously as he made his way back to the kitchen.

For the next several minutes, the group of teens waited for the new arrivals' food. Weiss had suggested a 'white' pizza, of which Ruby was unfamiliar, along with two sodas. The discussion was light until…

"Okay, peeps, I'm here! You can start the party now!" A familiar blonde mane burst in, heading right for their table.

Blake rolled her eyes, but the others choked a bit. Ruby sputtered, "Y-Yang?! ...The hell are _you_ doing here?"

The blonde scoffed, "Duh… pizza on a Friday night. Do I really need any other reason?" She slid over and took the seat next to Blake.

Ruby didn't reply, choosing instead to glare at her big sister until their food came. Weiss just ignored her.

The 20-30 minutes of food and talking sort of… blurred by. They enjoyed themselves, make no mistake, but nothing stood out as important enough for Ruby to remember. She liked the pizza, and made a mental note to order it again when she had the chance – but she also nabbed a few of Yang's slices of pepperoni with jalapenos, dodging the blonde's objecting slaps. The subjects of their conversations varied, jumping from the mural on the large wall of the restaurant (it featured a moon that appeared to have been shattered in the sky, pretty cool) to Weiss' little scooter (causing Yang to go into full _don't-get-me-started-on-that-crap_ mode). A good time was had by all.

Not to mention the fact that Ruby and Weiss' hands touched no less than three times over the course of the evening. She would _definitely_ remember that.

...

At one point, and unknown to the others, Coco stood up to get a refill on her drink. Jaune happened to be standing right there, and the two of them made small talk for a bit.

Coco nodded to the table and said, "What do you think when you look over there?"

The blonde boy looked, considered for about three seconds, then turned back and said, "I dunno… it's a table full of girls. Am I _supposed_ to think of something?"

The brunette scratched her chin absently, thought for a moment, then replied, "It's just… something about the four of them sitting together… it just feels _right_ …"

Ruby and Weiss sat next to each other on one side of the table, while Blake and Yang sat across from them. There was general small talk, some teasing (both _to_ and _from_ Yang), and overall a sense of family. The bickering kind, sure… but still family.

"I see what you mean…" Jaune nodded with a warm smile. They quietly parted ways and returned to their places.

In short, it was a good evening.

…

…

* * *

[Later that night…]

* * *

…

The moon shone brightly on the stucco building, giving it a feeling of high fantasy; as though it could be the battleground of dragons, wizards, and knights of old. A chilled breeze flowed by, giving notice of the colder season fast approaching. Crickets put on their regular serenade from the older trees in the courtyards.

A brand-new, four-door luxury sedan rolled up to the front gates of Oum High School at this late hour, due only to the passenger's insistence. The rear window was rolled down with a low hum and a pair of gleaming eyes beheld the structure. The left eye was brown, but the right eye shone a bright pink. These were matched by two of the girl's three hair colors – half was brown and half was pink, with a patch of silver-grey hanging down the front.

"Weiss Schnee… I've found you at last…"

…

…

TO BE CONTINUED

…

…

* * *

 **A/N: And thus ends the first part of this wonderful story. I was originally tempted to end it here, but I think I can pull off at least two other 'parts.' Right now, however, I'm taking a break from this story. I've found it rather difficult to switch between multiple fics more than a few times a month (give or take), so I'm going to go in longer 'phases' instead. I'm switching back to _Paradigm_ next.**

 **Just for the record, I actually _did_ learn what a dildo was in my sophomore year. Ah, innocence.**


	10. Enter Neo

**Disclaimer: This chapter introduces a variation of Neopolitan that can only be described as OOC. A modern-AU leaves little room for most of her canon details, so I'll be improvising as I go. Bear with me.**

* * *

… _  
_… … _  
_… … …

One month went by in a blur.

Ruby was pretty much running on auto-pilot the entire time, at least as far as school and home life was concerned. Go to class, come home, do homework, eat dinner, etc., etc. Her grades stayed pretty good, despite the fact that she would not have been able to recall her lessons even if you handed her a fat wad of cash. Nobody paid too much attention to her distant attitude.

Weiss Schnee, on the other hand, demanded Ruby's _full_ attention.

After that first date, things didn't change too much. They still shared the last class of the day, of course, but other than a few conversations there wasn't much to report. Ruby had started to wonder if they were really an item after a week of almost nothing.

And then Ruby gathered her bravery once again and gave Weiss another kiss – this one after class, with no one else in the room. The platinum blonde seemed to consider this some sort of signal, as they snuck in a secret kiss every day after. Each time they did it, the redhead found herself on cloud 9.

Time began to blur around this point. Ruby didn't really count the time by days, but rather by when she got to kiss Weiss. It was only in those moments that she really felt alive. Really _there._

It was a Friday afternoon, one month after their first date, when it happened.

…

They had found the perfect spot – around a hidden corner, just behind a thick oak tree, shadowed at almost all times of day. Their own personal nook. Nobody else came here. As far as they knew, no one else was even aware this spot existed.

The weather had finally gotten to a point that could be called cold. Ruby wore her usual red hoodie, and Weiss her sparkling white jacket, but neither could resist gathering just a bit more warmth from each other. Weiss was currently leaning against the building, with Ruby leaning against her. The redhead's face was nuzzled in the crook of Weiss' neck.

"…"

Neither of them said anything today, nor did they any other time they met in private like this. Both teens were fine just holding each other and 'sucking face,' as Yang so eloquently put it.

Sensing it was time, Ruby pulled her gaze up to stare into Weiss' gorgeous ice-blue eyes. They always reminded Ruby of glaciers – cold, deep, and surprisingly strong. She could have stared into them all day. Literally.

Weiss brought one hand up to Ruby's face and brushed a bit of dark red hair from her ear. Ruby leaned into the touch, closing her eyes to enjoy the contact. Weiss let her hand linger for a few moments, caressing her cheek lightly. Ruby then took the hand and moved it closer to her mouth to give it a slow kiss on the palm. Weiss blushed lightly.

This was how their meetings had been progressing over the last week or so. Ruby had been 'researching' ways to be more romantic now that she had reason to be (just research, dammit!), and was slowly trying to do a little more each time. Another kiss here, a touch there. She could tell it was working – Weiss was starting to reciprocate.

Eventually Weiss' other hand came up and gently pulled Ruby's head closer, her fingers buried in those dark red locks. Their breathes tickled each other's noses as they lingered, hovering close. Letting the emotions build up. It always added to the eventual passion once the dam broke.

Both girl's faces were quite flushed by the time they finally kissed each other, their breaths heavy and ragged. After doing this enough times, they'd started to learn how to get themselves quite worked up. Ruby absently wondered how much further they'd have to go before clothes started to come off…

The mood was suddenly shattered by a brief flash of light, followed by the distinctive sound of a camera shutter clicking a beat later.

They'd been caught.

"Hey, jerk!" Weiss moved first, firmly but gently moving Ruby out of the way so she could charge after their peeping tom. The redhead nearly collapsed to the ground from sheer embarrassment – they'd chosen this spot to stay hidden, yet someone still found them? Dammit!

After a few moments, Ruby went after Weiss. The platinum blonde was simply standing in place and looking around. Ruby couldn't see any sign of another person in the area, much less hear anything. It was like they'd been photographed by a ghost.

"It can't be… … … she already found me…?"

Ruby looked over and found Weiss holding something and muttering to herself. The item looked like an umbrella, but it was a rather fancy one if the delicate lacework pattern was anything to go by.

"Weiss…?"

"Sorry, but I should go. See you on Monday, Ruby." And with those parting words, Weiss Schnee turned and walked back to the entrance to the school. Ruby Rose was left standing there, totally flummoxed.

Was she upset that they had been photographed? What did that umbrella have to do with anything? Who was 'she' …?

Too many questions, not enough answers. With any luck Weiss would at least feel like chatting over the weekend.

…

…

Or not.

The next Monday morning found the redhead still in the dark about what happened. Weiss never even logged in once.

The usual morning routine played out pretty much without her. Now that Yang and Blake had made up, the tall blonde had started making time to join them in front of the library at least once a week (when not in her club meetings). Blake seemed glad to see her, but valiantly tried to hide it. Ruby wasn't fooled.

Ruby also couldn't help but notice an odd feeling of …tension between Coco and Blake this past week or so. Almost like something had happened, but it lay just under the surface. As though one word could spill everything out like a popped water balloon. Considering the gravity of Blake's previous deep-dark-secret, Ruby decided not to approach this one at all. Best to let things like this work themselves out, yes?

And then came first period, where Ruby found herself face-to-face with the new transfer student.

She stood several inches shorter than Ruby, but was not any younger. In fact, she was the same age as Weiss (according to the records). She was dressed in what could only be called 'formal-casual' – a white button-up shirt tucked into Capri-length black slacks, high-end sneakers, and a set of odd, black fingerless gloves. She also carried herself with an air of arrogance, of high-living. That sort of _I'm-better-than-you_ attitude that made Ruby's hackles rise.

What stood out the most to Ruby, however, was her hair colors. The base color was clearly brown, but this girl had taken the time to dye half of her hair a bright _pink_. In addition to that, a small section of her bangs shone a greyish-silver color.

There was also the matter of the girl's eyes – the right one was brown, but the left was a pink that matched her hair. Truly bizarre.

Upon their first meeting, all the girl said to Ruby was, "You… have silver eyes."

"Um… … … okay?" Ruby's patience was not rewarded with an explanation, however. The girl said nothing else for the rest of the class. She also seemed to make a point of ignoring Ruby every chance she got.

During fourth period, Ruby learned a bit more from a nearby conversation – the girl was known simply as Neo, and she had been asking about Weiss. A lot. It seemed as though she might have been a stalker for the young Schnee.

Neo, huh? Better keep an eye on that one…

* * *

… _  
_… … _  
_… … …

Weiss knew _full well_ who Neopolitan was.

That's why she made a few phone calls over the weekend.

Her hunch turned out to be correct – Neo really _did_ get herself transferred to Oum High. Thankfully the midget was unaware of just how much pull Weiss had if she chose to use it, which she did as soon as she could.

A few words to the right people was all it took. Weiss could rest easy knowing that Neo would never share one single class with her. Not one.

She only hoped Ruby was as lucky.

Weiss glared at the parasol on her desk, irritation building within her just as it did every time she saw it. Neo. Of all people to have caught the two of them having a moment, it just had to be _her._

If Neo was truly attending Oum High now, Ruby was probably in a bit of trouble. Weiss didn't expect the midget to do anything violent, but there was really no telling with that girl. She had done some rather …nutty things in their past.

" _Weiss Schnee, you are my soulmate! We belong together… for eternity!"_

She shuddered at the memory of that declaration.

Weiss sat herself down at her desk with a huff, trying to get her mind back on more pleasant thoughts. Like her painting, her friends, or…

Ruby.

The platinum blonde took a small photo from beside her computer monitor, gazing at the dark red hair and silver eyes pictured on it. Ruby Rose. Her girlfriend. In the _actual_ sense of the word.

Ever since foiling Ruby's attempt at running away from home, Weiss had found herself thinking of Ruby every night. It was purely memories at first, but she soon found her thoughts drifting into fantasy land. In her mind, Ruby was quite …forward about their relationship. Aggressive, even. Weiss often blushed as her mental scenarios played out.

Much to her delight, the real Ruby seemed to be taking the hint – every time they kissed, the redhead seemed to open up more and more. Her mood was lifting progressively higher with each of their encounters. And she was getting more bold.

Weiss' face flushed yet again as another thought occurred to her – she was close to tugging Ruby's hoodie off during their last makeout session. Close to running her hands up Ruby's naked back. Close to doing something totally inappropriate for her age group.

Good _God…_ when did she become such a hornball?

Taking a drink of water to calm her nerves, Weiss laid down and focused on cute, fluffy kittens. That worked every time; she was asleep within minutes.

…

…

Monday came and went without incident. No Neo. Mostly.

As the final bell of the day rang out, Weiss quickly gathered her things while offering muttered apologies to Ruby about their last encounter. "Sorry about last Friday, Ruby. I had a lot on my mind."

The redhead simply nodded, "I could tell. Are you okay, though?"

"I am. I should warn you – if you meet a girl with half-brown, half-pink hair, be careful around her."

"Pink? Actually, I…"

And that was all the time they had. Ruby never got to finish her sentence before the door to the art room was thrown open to admit the tiny pink-and-brown form of Neopolitan.

" _WEISS SCHNEE…!_ There you are!"

Weiss' face fell as she muttered, "Oh goddammit…!"

Neo took a full three steps towards the young Schnee before stopping and giving Ruby the stink-eye. "You…? … … …I see… … … so _you're_ the one…"

The short teen strode over and placed herself directly in between Weiss and Ruby, glaring daggers at the redhead and earning raised eyebrows from every onlooker in the room.

One hand came up and pointed a finger directly in Ruby's face as Neo declared, "Ruby Rose, I am taking my soulmate back from your evil clutches! Weiss is mine!"

Coco, who hadn't quite made it out of the room by this point, had been taking a drink of water from a bottle during that outburst – she promptly sprayed it against the door, coughing a bit.

To say that was … _unexpected_ … would be a massive understatement. Other than the epic spit-take, nobody else in the room reacted. Or made any noise. This was just too much. By this point the entire art class was aware that Weiss and Ruby were together (thanks to the Coco Gossip Train), and learning of a third party to the relationship was sure to send the rumors flying.

Weiss had just about had enough. She quickly grabbed Neo's unguarded ear and pulled them away, quietly growling, "What the hell are you doing here, Gabby?"

Ruby instantly gagged, fighting down a grin. Gabby was Neo's real name – Neopolitan was just a nickname. Nobody else overheard it, though.

Neo whispered just as harshly, "My name is _Neo_ … don't you remember me, Snow Angel?"

Ruby choked again. Weiss fought back a rising blush. Why did she have to hear _that_ name?

"Yes, I _do_ remember you …which is why I'm asking what the hell you're doing _here?"_

"When you vanished from RTA Academy, I simply _had_ to find you. My life is not complete without my snow angel, after all…"

"I transferred here to get away from you people… if you follow me, then that becomes pointless."

"So you'll come back with me?"

"I'm staying here, and there's nothing you can do to change my mind."

"Damn… … … then I guess I'll have to stay, too."

"I'd rather you didn't."

"It's strange, though… I don't have any classes with you. I only found out you were here by …persuading a young man to tell me."

"He isn't bleeding, is he?"

"Not anymore… tee-hee…"

*sigh* "Why haven't you been arrested yet?"

"Because I am smol and _kawaii_."

"Humble, too…"

Neo suddenly and abruptly turned her attention back to Ruby. Her gaze was steady as she stated, "I understand you've been trying to date my Weiss. I should tell you, she is completely out of your league. No one is smarter or more talented than Weiss Schnee. No one could possibly match up to her brilliance, her absolute magnificence."

An idea struck Weiss at that moment, and she blurted it out long before she stopped to consider the consequences. "Actually… she _is_ better than me at drawing."

The reaction was instant – Neo whipped her head back around and gave Weiss a wide-eyed look of shock. She then whipped that look around to Ruby, then back again to Weiss. "No way…" she said quietly.

No going back now. "Indeed. She's probably even better than you…" Weiss had no idea why she was saying these things, but there was no stopping them anymore.

Neo hesitated only moments before turning to once again face Ruby, one hand pointed defiantly at the redhead's face, and declaring, _"I challenge you to a drawing contest!"_

"You know…" another voice cut in, this one dripping with barely-controlled patience. "…If you people are done here, I'd like to go home."

Cinder Fall had been listening to the entire exchange, waiting for her delinquent students to get the hell out of the room so she could lock up.

Neo looked like she was going to argue the point, but a yellow-eyed glare cut her off. Nobody spoke as various bags were gathered.

Oddly, Ms. Fall's glare softened before they all left as she said, "If you truly want to do this contest, you can use this room after school Friday. I have a free weekend, so I can even judge the contest for you."

Ruby started to say, "I don't know if I…"

"The winner gets to give Weiss a kiss, and the loser has to watch," Neo added with a smirk.

Weiss was ready to sputter an objection, ready to argue against them using her as the prize, but was cut off by a rather enthusiastic, _"You're on!"_

Ruby had the most determined look Weiss had ever seen as the redhead and the midget shook hands. The agreement had been made.

Weiss couldn't even get the words out as they went their separate ways.

What had she done?

* * *

… _  
_… … _  
_… … …

Blake was …not happy.

These last few weeks had been rather tense between her and Coco. And small wonder – ever since she'd been called out on this 'Sun Wukong' thing, Blake had not been able to relax around the tall brunette. At all.

Coco was one of the only people who knew that Sun Wukong didn't actually exist. He was a character in one of Blake's fanfictions.

This had become the cause of near-endless anxiety. All it would take was a few choice words from Coco to bring the whole lie down around her head. Blake wanted nothing more than to keep this a secret from Yang, but with Coco, secrets did not come cheap.

And who could blame her? When Yang implied that she might still have had some lingering feelings for her, Blake panicked. Pulling her own character out of her ass as a makeshift boyfriend could have been nothing more than a joke if Yang knew who he really was… but she didn't. Her look of fear more than confirmed that she had never heard of him.

That was both a blessing and a curse.

Blake hated having to lie to her one-time best friend, but if it kept the blonde on her toes then that was a good thing. She _really_ didn't want Yang to get too close. Not again.

Otherwise her true feelings would be revealed.

To be perfectly honest, Blake had never fully recovered after that first kiss. Thoughts of Yang often interrupted her daily life for several years after. Boys had come and gone, she had seen councilors, and even taken various medications… to no effect. Nothing short of massive head trauma could get Yang completely out of her head.

And that scared her.

"Earth to Blake… … … anybody home?"

Amber eyes blinked as she remembered where she was. Coco stood in front of her waving one hand an inch away from Blake's face as they watched Yang walk down the hall.

"Oh… … … sorry. Distracted."

"I can't _imagine why…_ " she replied sarcastically.

"Coco… please don't."

"Don't what?"

"You _know_ what I mean… _PLEASE_ don't tell her…"

"And why _wouldn't_ I tell her…?"

"Because you are a glorious, radiant human being with the generosity of a thousand Buddhas…?"

"And… … …?"

"And… … … because you greatly respect your friend's earnest pleas for mercy…?"

" _And… … …?"_

*whimper* "And… because I'll send you those photos… later tonight. _Dammit_ Coco, why must you be so evil?"

"I thought I was a glorious, radiant human being?"

"Not when you want photos of me in my freaking _underwear_ …you sick pervert!"

"Relax, kitten… I don't post them online. And it's not like I haven't seen you like that before…"

" _Please_ don't bring that up again. I told you, I was just _drunk!"_

"I'd wager Yang would _love_ to hear that story… heh heh… Oh relax Blake, I'm just messing with you! Besides, you know I prefer the nerdy types."

"… … … … …Hmm…"

"…?"

"Would you promise not to tell Yang anything if I introduce you to someone who might just… tickle your fancy?"

"While I enjoy having my fancy tickled, I can't promise anything until I see her. It is a _her_ , right?"

"I _do_ know who I'm talking to, remember?"

"Hmm… … … … … very well, I accept your proposal."

…

At that very moment, Velvet Scarlatina came close to dropping her bottle of water before she could hand it off to one of the runners. A savage chill ran down her spine for no apparent reason. She glanced around, but found no one watching her as she expected.

"I've suddenly got a bad feeling…"

…

…

…

* * *

 **Author's Note: I'm ba-a-a-a-ack!**

 **After finally getting to a good stopping point with** _ **Paradigm**_ **, I have returned to continue my white rose story. Neo has arrived, whoopee. And wouldn't you know it, Blake made up a fake boyfriend! (To be honest, I went back and forth over that one a bit…)**

 **Until next time!**

 **=^o^=**


	11. Interpretation

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY in any way. I claim no expertise in areas of existential dilemmas, stalkers, or professional art critiquing. As a reminder, this is a modern-day AU – certain characters will be a bit OOC as a result.**

* * *

… _  
_… … _  
_… … …

Tuesday morning.

There were many, many questions that plagued humanity: What is the meaning of life? Did we evolve or were we created by a higher power?

For Jaune Arc, there was only one question that needed an answer: _Why do people like to run so freaking much?_

He was no closer to an answer as he rounded the last leg of the track, finishing his second lap of the morning. Or of all time. At this point, it could go either way.

Running, as far as the blonde boy was concerned, was an activity that should only be done when there's a large man chasing you with a knife. The idea that humans could _enjoy_ such a thing was truly alien. This is why we have _cars_ , dammit!

After two slow, agonizing laps, Jaune collapsed to the grass next to the water table. Velvet leaned over him and stared down with a look of half-concern, half-amusement. She handed a bottle to him and chuckled, "You gonna make it there, Turbo?"

"You're hilarious," he responded wryly. He made no move to get up, though. Every fiber of his being was crying out in anguish. He could feel his very soul parting from his body…

"Are you okay, John?"

A sudden burst of muscle power launched Jaune straight to his feet as that voice spoke up from behind him – the voice of an angel.

"Pyrrha! Hi! It's… _Jaune,_ actually. I, uh… I'm good… how are you?"

The tall exchange student smiled sheepishly, clearly amused by the silly blonde boy. "I am fine, but it is you I worry about. You should rest for a few minutes, Shaun."

 _You know what… that's close enough._ "Yeah, I… I think I will. Thanks."

Ignoring the drink table, Pyrrha nodded and turned to continue her running. The girl could probably run all day if no one stopped her – and Jaune would have watched all day if no one stopped _him._

He silently praised Blake for bringing them out here this morning. Honestly, why hadn't he ever seen such a gorgeous girl before? Pyrrha Nikos…

"Isn't she a bit… above your pay grade, Jaunny boy?"

Velvet Scarlatina, on the other hand, seemed like the definition of the word 'plain.' On the plus side, she had the ability to quickly become friendly with anybody. They had only known each other for a grand total of one hour and thirteen minutes, yet they had already reached a level of banter he usually shared with Coco.

"Oh mind your own business, four-eyes."

Where _was_ Coco, anyway? She should have been out here with the rest of them…

The brown-haired girl suddenly darted a look off to one side, then off to another. She rubbed her own shoulders quickly, like she was trying to warm herself up.

"You okay there, Velvet?"

"I _swear_ someone's been staring at me all morning… it's giving me the creeps!"

Jaune tried to look around as well, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Other than nearly a dozen other students running along the track, all he saw was about four or five others simply waiting next to the school building for classes to start. "You sure?" he asked carefully.

"Well I can't prove anything… but it just feels like… someone out here is… _undressing_ me with their _eyes_ … … … bleah…!"

"Should I go find a teacher…?"

"No, no… it's okay. I'll deal with it if anything happens. Thanks, though."

* * *

… _  
_… … _  
_… … …

Wednesday morning.

Ruby was already starting to feel a bit irritable now that she and Weiss were holding back on their kissing. Ruby wanted to keep herself focused on the challenge… but it was having unwanted effects.

Yang was the first one to get snapped at yesterday, but the blonde handled it much like any other disagreement they'd had in the past – with a chokehold. Ruby ended up apologizing only after tapping out. Ah, big sisters.

Both yesterday and earlier this morning found one classroom in the school near to icing over. Ruby and Neo had been ignoring each other so hard that the windows of the room had started to fog up. A few students half-joked that they could see their breath during that period. Talk about _cold._

But now it was lunchtime, and Ruby found herself gnawing on a piece of dried-out pizza. She was also sitting by herself, but that was not uncommon. Likely had to do with her facial expression.

The only thing on her mind was Neo. Ruby was determined to win this contest.

She would _not_ let Neo have Weiss.

Ruby growled a bit as she tore off another piece of the pizza. A few nearby students scooted just a little bit further away.

At least she didn't have to worry about _practicing_ for this drawing contest… right?

* * *

… _  
_… … _  
_… … …

Thursday afternoon.

The steady _bap-bap_ of her punches filled the empty room with a steady percussion beat that she could have easily danced to. In fact, she almost _was_ dancing as she punched the heavy bag. Her form hadn't improved for almost a year, and it was starting to get on her nerves.

Sun Wukong.

A guy who needed his ass _whooped._

Yang increased her rhythm and her force, punching as hard and as fast as she could while still keeping her form. Boxing was never her forte, but against a heavy bag it was the best sort of workout. Her face dripped with sweat, her muscles burning from overuse.

She didn't know who this Sun guy was, but that didn't matter. She was willing to fight him for Blake.

Yang paused for a moment as she tried to create a mental image of Sun – not easy, as she had no imagination to speak of – and attach it to the bag's sweet spot. Gathering her rage, she let loose one punch right to his stupid, smug face…

Then nearly screamed as a sharp pain shot up her arm. She'd sprained her wrist.

The bag landed on the floor a moment later, having been knocked loose from its mount. The blonde fell to her knees alongside it, holding her pained hand very gingerly.

So much for the workout.

Biting back a string of curses, Yang made her way to the locker room and headed into the showers. She would need to ice that arm soon, otherwise it would swell up like a balloon.

Eventually she got that done and slowly made her way back home, but her mind was only on one thing: Black hair and amber eyes, an almost feline grace, and a body most guys would _kill_ for.

Most guys… and at least one girl.

Truth be told, Yang probably would never have considered pursing her old friend like this, but with Ruby getting a proper girlfriend in the Ice Queen, Yang might have been feeling a bit… left out.

Not that she was _jealous_ or anything. Of course not.

And she wasn't scared of meeting this Sun Wukong, regardless of how much Blake's description of him really did scare her. A Kung-Fu master? Six feet tall? With a _high-school_ girlfriend?

That alone earned him a whooping in her book.

Setting her resolve, Yang made it home before the sun was fully below the horizon. She spared it a glance, enjoying the vivid colors for a moment before going inside.

Oddly enough, that one glance seemed to be enough to lift her spirits… if only a touch. Maybe Ruby's _artsy-fartsy_ thing wasn't so strange after all.

* * *

… _  
_… … _  
_… … …

Friday afternoon.

Weiss had learned over the course of the week that Neo had out-of-school business to attend to on Tuesdays and Thursdays, leaving her to bug the two of them all three other days of the week. Wednesday was similar to Monday in that the midget tried to get between them once again, earning her the attention of the entire room.

She was mainly there to remind Ruby of their little 'duel' set for today. A drawing contest, of all things. How would that even work?

The class was almost over for the day, so Weiss muttered a quiet, "You know, …you didn't have to agree to this thing. Neo is actually really good."

Ruby's pencil stopped mid-line. The redhead glanced over at Weiss from her seat, then muttered back, "I don't care how good she is… I won't let her take you from me."

Only with the greatest force of will did Weiss keep from choking and blubbering on her own spit. Try as she might, however, a deep blush found it's way onto her face.

That was the single most romantic thing anyone had ever said to her!

The young Schnee was sure her face was giving off steam by this point.

From the other side of the room, Coco saw the exchange and grinned. She also waggled her eyebrows obnoxiously. Great, now Weiss would have to explain _why_ she was red as a tomato.

Even Ms. Fall noticed how red she was becoming, but the art teacher was much more… subtle than one would expect. Rather than calling out one of her students when they were already deathly embarrassed, Ms. Fall had come up with a few non-verbal signs to communicate with. She tilted one hand and raised one eyebrow, signaling _'Are you alright?'_

Weiss rubbed her face a bit, took a deep breath and nodded slightly: _'I'll be fine.'_

Ms. Fall turned the edges of her mouth downward and shrugged: _'If you say so…'_

From the corner of her vision, Weiss saw Ruby start to say something – no doubt to ask if she was feeling okay – when the bell rang. Most of the room took this as a signal to go home for the weekend.

The rest knew what was coming. Neo was on her way.

Both Weiss and Ruby stood to find different seats for the contest. Ms. Fall stowed a few supplies, along with their project for the day, then walked to the corner to retrieve a large piece of cardboard. Coco decided to stick around too, though she admitted it was just to see what the midget would pull next.

Right on cue, the pink and brown haired girl entered the room and opened her mouth to speak-

"The way this will work," Ms. Fall started before the girl uttered a single syllable, "is simple – you will sit on either side of this partition and draw the live model I've called on. You will both have just twenty minutes. Pencil only." The teacher wedged the cardboard between two desks, creating a small wall. "You will accept my final decision without argument, or you will forfeit. Are we clear?"

Both Neo and Ruby gulped in unison, then nodded at the same time.

"Good. She should be here any minute…"

The door opened to admit a brown-haired girl in thick glasses. _Seriously? How did she rope Velvet into this?_

"Ms. Fall? Did you still need me today?"

"Yes, come on inside. I'm just going to have you sit up here as a live model, Ms. Scarlatina. Easy job – all you have to do is hold still."

"Now _that_ I can do."

As the art teacher got Velvet into position on the black pedestal, Weiss just heard Coco chanting something under her breath: _"Please be a nude model, please be a nude model, please be a nude model…"_ Weiss frowned.

Velvet took her place with all her clothes _on_ , causing Coco to grunt in irritation. The only thing Weiss could do was punch the tall brunette in the arm – anything else would have led to an all-out catfight. Bloody pervert.

Each artist was given a blank sheet of paper and a standard number-2 pencil. Cinder Fall pulled out a stopwatch and said, "Twenty minutes starts… … … _now."_

At the push of the button, both girls instantly fell into the Zone. Weiss had honestly never seen anyone achieve that state so fast before.

For most of the twenty minutes, the only sound in the room was the rubbing of graphite on parchment. At first Weiss had found this sound annoying, but after watching Ruby work her pencil magic for this long… now it was like _music_. She almost closed her eyes and let herself drift away… but then she would have missed watching the two of them work.

Ruby studied her model for several seconds at a stretch, then worked at her picture for just as long. She used lots of sketching strokes, long and steady, as she built the form. She had a base drawing done in no time – then moved on to the detail work. Weiss would never grow tired of watching a series of lines come to life beneath her girlfriend's master touch.

" _QUIT MOVING!_ Dammit…!"

Neo, on the other hand, was a different story.

The short girl whipped her head up and down, up and down, several times in rapid succession. It was enough to make anyone's neck sore just from watching her. Her own pencil moved in short, quick strokes as a truly _insane_ level of detail emerged onto her page. Weiss watched in awe as tiny details she didn't even know where there suddenly jumped out of the scene. This was beyond just 'good' – this was a genius talent.

Weiss sighed as she mentally prepared herself for Neo's victory, which would inevitably include consoling Ruby. And kissing a midget. Oh happy day.

As the time drew near, Weiss noticed another odd detail: Cinder Fall. The woman had taken her seat at her desk to watch the contest unfold, yet Weiss couldn't help but notice that most, if not _all_ , of her attention was on Ruby. It almost looked like she was _studying_ the redhead. Maybe it was just a 'critic' thing…

The stopwatch beeped as the twenty minutes ended. "Pencils down," Ms. Fall commanded.

Both contestants gave an identical grunt of _"Crap…!"_ as they stopped. Weiss blinked. Wow, how in-sync _were_ these two?

Both Ruby and Neo stood up and waited on Ms. Fall to judge the two pictures. Weiss was already sure how this would play out. Ruby was good, of that there was no doubt – but Neo was on another level entirely.

Still examining the pictures, Ms. Fall said, "I've done a bit of research on you, Neo… what was your nickname in the art class at RTA again?"

"They called me the _photocopier,"_ she replied with an extra helping of smug.

"Indeed," the teacher replied with the driest tone Weiss had ever heard. "You truly have a great talent for drawing _exactly_ what you see. As far as I can tell, this drawing might as well be a graphite photograph."

She laid Neo's masterwork on the desk for all to see. Everyone could see that it was definitely the better of the two as far as details were concerned. It was basically perfect…

"However… … … Ruby wins this contest."

"…"

No one said a word for several beats. Weiss could see Neo's brain trying to jump out of her head as they stood there. She'd never seen someone get under the midget's skin quite like this. It was impressive.

Oddly enough, it was Ruby who asked the big question: "Why me?"

"One word – _interpretation."_

Four sets of eyes blinked in confusion. Even Velvet didn't follow that logic, and she was the most language-capable person Weiss knew. The brunette could figure out even the most subtle figures of speech with ease.

Ms. Fall began her explanation. "While Neo's skill is without question, I could not bring myself to declare her piece the winner because it was no longer 'art' …it was just a copy. Her eye for detail has become _so_ exact that she cannot express her own style or taste in her work. She simply copies exactly what she sees. If that was all I wanted, I would have simply taken the photo myself and saved us both the time and hassle."

Everyone winced at the teacher's blunt tone. That _was_ a bit harsh…

"On the other hand, Ruby's portrait shows that she altered a few details to make the image her own – a trait that is _key_ for a proper artist. Take a look…"

A second pencil image of Velvet was placed next to the first, and everyone could instantly tell the difference. Neo's drawing was like a photo – yet Ruby's picture was almost _alive._

She ignored the details of the background, choosing instead to fill it with a smooth gradient. The folds of her clothes were a bit smoother, as well. The biggest change, at least as far as Weiss could see, was Velvet's face – the picture showed her with a warm smile (the model had kept her face blank).

That smile… Weiss felt her mood lift just looking at it.

"As you can see, these two are far from the same. My choice was based on how each of you chose to interpret the subject, and on that note Ruby won by a mile." Weiss thought she saw a glimmer of a smile on Ms. Fall's face as she finished.

Neo exhaled loudly through her nose, then nodded and said, "Very well… … … I accept your j-j-judgement. You have w-w-won this c-c-contest, Ruby R-R-Rose…"

Weiss' eyebrows shot up. _The_ Neopolitan was …stuttering?

Ruby started to say something in response, but held back at the last moment. She chose to simply nod instead.

Coco spoke up at last, bringing attention to the one thing Weiss wished had been forgotten by this point. "Didn't you two have a wager of some sort…?"

Ruby and Coco grinned.

Neo flinched.

Weiss gulped.

Velvet just blinked.

Ms. Fall sighed, "I'll allow it this once, but after this I'll have to enforce the school's PDA policy. Get it over with so we can go home."

As Ruby made her way over, Coco added, "Don't forget, shorty… you're supposed to watch."

Neo groaned in response, but did not look away.

The redhead was already starting to breathe harder as they drew close to each other. Weiss knew her girlfriend had been holding herself back all week, but hopefully this wouldn't get too… out of hand.

Of course, Weiss had been holding back too. If anything happened today, she was just as likely to be the culprit.

Weiss was very conscious of the eyes around them, but Ruby could have cared less. She gently placed Weiss' arms over her shoulders (easy with their height difference), leaned close… and kissed Weiss.

Ever since their first real kiss back at the train station, all of the kisses that followed had lacked that spark they first felt. They were all good and several were intense, but none had the same … _oomph._

That is, until today. That old spark was back.

Weiss couldn't stop her hands from running through Ruby's gorgeous deep red hair. She nearly started moaning as Ruby's hands began clawing at the back of her shirt. The passion had escalated far more quickly than she expected, but the young Schnee could not have cared less at that moment.

"Oh my…!" Velvet squeaked.

"Hot _damn!"_ Coco cheered.

"Control yourselves, kids… … … goodness sakes," Cinder Fall shook her head in exasperation. She was also smiling, one might be inclined to notice.

Ms. Fall's voice was enough to snap Weiss back to reality. She pulled herself away from her girlfriend with tremendous effort, panting from lack of oxygen. Ruby was also breathing hard. She couldn't help but smile at the thin line of spit connecting their mouths as they separated.

Very quietly, so none of the others could hear, Ruby whispered, _"I think we've got some catching up to do…"_

Weiss had to try very hard to keep from squealing at the prospect. She settled for giving her girlfriend a light _boop_ on the nose.

"Uh… guys?" Velvet sounded a little worried. "Is she alright?" Nearly everyone in the room soon noticed that the brunette's finger was pointing at Neo.

The pink-and-brown girl was visibly trembling. It looked like she might literally explode at any moment.

Neo raised her eyes, opened her mouth, and let loose a high-pitched, inhuman howling noise.

" _#…*…=…~…%…!"_

The sound reverberated through the room for a moment as the occupants recoiled in fear. Did a _human_ just make that ungodly sound?

"Ruby Rose… … … this isn't over… … …" Neo growled as she turned to exit the room. _"I will not rest until Weiss is mine again!"_

The short girl tried to slam the door behind her… but the pneumatic device caught it anyway, causing it to simply _sigh_ closed instead. Neo's frustrated growl was clearly audible from beyond as the tiny girl stomped away down the hall.

In the awkward silence that followed, Coco started chuckling. "And that, my comrades, is what is known in certain circles as 'jealous gay screeching.'"

This time Velvet started laughing, mostly at the taller girl's tone as she gave out this information. Weiss also giggled a bit – that name was all too appropriate.

Eventually they all made their way out of the room, finally heading home. They all said their goodbyes and started on their way.

Before they separated too far, Ruby sent Weiss a series of hand-signals – she mimed the action of typing on a keyboard, tapped the back of her wrist, then held up two fingers: ' _Chat in two hours?'_

Weiss nodded and gave her a thumbs up: ' _Absolutely.'_

Still grinning like idiots, the two girls went their separate ways. With any luck, there would be a bit more … _catching up_ over the weekend.

Weiss shuddered in anticipation.

* * *

… _  
_… … _  
_… … …

"How much would it take to convince you to part with Ruby's drawing?"

"Sorry. This one's not for sale."

"How about Neo's?"

"Ten bucks."

"I'll give you five."

"… … …Done."

"A pleasure, Ms. Fall."

"Do behave yourself, Ms. Adel."

"Oh sure, take all the fun out of my weekend…"

…

…

…

* * *

 **Author's Note: Ruby 1, Neo 0.**

 **It's been interesting trying to keep everyone's personalities consistent through a story this long – especially with my main story (** _ **Paradigm**_ **) still lurking off to one side. I can't guarantee that I won't include a few …** _ **spicier**_ **scenes in the near future, but I'd rather not have to bump up the age rating. I want to keep it rated T.**


	12. BONUS SHORT: A Night to Ourselves

**Author's Note: This chapter is just meant to be something fun, so please don't take it too seriously. I mentioned in the last chapter that I might try a steamy scene or two – and that's going to be here. That being said, proceed with caution: I ventured as close to smut as I could while still keeping it rated T. If you don't like that kind of thing, feel free to skip this chapter. You won't miss anything vital.**

 **(But if I happened to go too far, someone please let me know. I'd rather not get in trouble over this.)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY in any way.**

* * *

… _  
_… … _  
_… … …

"Was that your father?"

"Yes, he calls me every day around this time. He always says he's just 'checking in.'"

"What kind of guy is he, anyway? I don't know too many other adults besides my own dad, and I doubt yours it like _him…_ "

"He's… pretty much a typical old, rich guy like they portray in movies and TV shows. Quite close to the stereotype."

"I'll take that as a warning."

"Good idea. I'd rather not have to introduce the two of you sooner than necessary. I think you'd like my sister, though."

"Weiss… if she's anything like you, I might just die where I stand. _Two_ drop-dead beautiful girls in one room? Next stop: Heaven."

"Hmm… flattery will get you _everywhere_ , Ruby Rose."

"Still… hard to believe you basically get an entire house to yourself… doesn't it get kinda lonely?"

"Very much so, but I've gotten used to it. Mostly."

"Mostly?"

"Weekends are the worst, but I do occasionally get to go out with a few friends. Velvet, among others."

"You have… _other_ friends?"

"… … …That was a low blow."

"Sorry."

"It's okay… … you can make it up to me later tonight…" *wink*

*shudder*

"I know you brought your own PJs, but… would you be willing to try a few of these on? Just for… kicks and giggles?"

"So we're playing 'dress-up' huh? Why not…?"

"…"

"So, be honest… how do I look?"

"Well… I truly thought a pink-bunny onesie would look better on you than _that…_ yikes."

"Agreed. It's a bit warm, too."

"There's more… … … how about this one?"

"…"

"Sorry about the waist size… … here, tie this tighter so it… … there, much better."

"Other than being a bit baggy, I kinda like it."

"I'm sure you'll grow into them. _Wonder Woman_ PJs, huh? More fitting than I expected…"

"Do I make you _'wonder'_ …?"

"God, you sound like your sister."

"You're welcome."

"Here, try these next…"

"…"

"…"

"Heart-patterned sleep pants…"

"And a black camisole…"

"…"

"…"

"Nope."

"Nope."

"…"

"Okay, last one for tonight…"

"Um, Weiss? This isn't PJs, this is just a…"

" _Whatever_ , just put it on!"

"But… … … there's no pants with it!"

"That's kinda the point…"

"…"

"Look, there's nothing to be embarrassed about, Ruby… just show me!"

"Okay, _okay!"_

"…"

"Weiss… you're drooling…"

"Dress shirt… … and no pants… … … Coco, my friend… you're a genius!"

"Hmm… like what you see, eh?" *twirl*

" _Ggh-!"_

"Oh, God… Weiss, your nose is bleeding! Tissue! Tissue!"

" _I can die happy now…"_

"Weiss, stay with me! WEISS!"

…

The lights were off in the room. Other than a dim nightlight in her bathroom, the only source of light for the two teens was Weiss' alarm clock. The big red numbers proudly displayed the time as 11:24.

Weiss and Ruby were nowhere _near_ asleep. Not when they shared the same bed. In an otherwise empty house. No one around to hear them make any… noise. And on a Saturday night.

And in case you weren't paying attention, they _are_ officially girlfriends now.

And no, they hadn't done anything. Yet.

But it wouldn't be long.

Neither teen had said more than a few words since the lights had gone out. There was no need. They both were fine with just staring into each other eyes for the time being.

Ruby had always been struck with how much Weiss' eyes looked like literal icebergs – but in the darkness, they actually seemed to _glitter._ She could still make out the blue color, but now it looked like they were full of stars. The redhead couldn't tear her gaze away. Gorgeous.

Weiss was also having a hard time looking away from the face a mere 12 inches away from her own. Ruby's silver eyes had a …unique appeal during the day, but in the darkness there was something ethereal about them. Almost like magic. Weiss felt like she would literally fall into those eyes if she stared long enough.

Before either of them knew they were moving, Weiss found her hand gripped gently in Ruby's. Waves of goosebumps traveled down the young Schnee's arms and down her back.

Ruby seemed to be in a trance as her hands began lightly stroking Weiss' arms. Slowly, up and down, wrist to elbow. The two teens gradually pulled closer to each other as Ruby continued her touching.

Weiss could do nothing other than lay there and breathe as Ruby worked her magic.

Eventually the redhead's hands found their way to Weiss' face, the fingertips gently brushing away strands of platinum blonde hair. Ruby's gaze never left Weiss' eyes during her movements.

The young Schnee smiled lightly as a thought occurred to her: Ruby was in the Zone. Now, of all times.

Ruby practically floated upright as she moved over to Weiss, turning the teen over to rest fully on her stomach. Weiss adjusted herself neatly, not resisting in the slightest as Ruby straddled her legs and began giving her a back rub.

Weiss now knew what it felt like to… _melt_.

She'd had a few massages in the past, but none of them worked like _this._ Ruby's hands found every scrap of fatigue hiding in Weiss' back, not sparing a one as she rubbed each and every spot. The platinum blonde couldn't help but moan every few minutes as her girlfriend worked her magic.

Weiss barely noticed as Ruby slid her hands underneath her top, rubbing bare skin. Not stopping as she went higher and higher. Weiss was already breathing harder as things were heating up.

Finally, Ruby bent down and laid herself against Weiss' back, putting her face right next to Weiss' ear. Ruby's hands slid around to Weiss' chest, gripping the thin fabric of the girl's bra. Weiss was practically _panting_ now.

Ruby nibbled Weiss' ear. That was all it took.

With a light grunt of effort, Weiss sat up and tossed Ruby back to her side of the bed. She was right there a moment later, on top of Ruby and ready to light up the night. The redhead was just as ready.

As Weiss indulged herself with Ruby, her mind was starting to go numb. Ruby was in the same boat. Neither of them was quite aware of their own actions after that nibble.

Their memories of the night consisted of no images – just smells, tastes, and bodily warmth to last them for years.

They also recalled hearing their own names being called by the other party quite a few times through the night.

…

Neither of them knew when they actually fell asleep. Only that they both woke up to a bright, new day. At 10:00.

And that they were both almost completely naked.

…

"Um… … … Weiss?"

"Yes, Ruby?"

"What… did we do last night?"

"I don't remember."

"And why… … … are we naked?"

"It looks to me like we still have a few clothes on."

"One shirt and one pair of sleep pants between the two of us? Close enough to naked for me."

"Again… I don't remember."

*sigh* "I was hoping at least _one_ of us would…"

"Based on the fact that my top is hanging from the _ceiling fan_ … I'd say it's better that we don't."

"And, um… where are my… panties…?"

"I think they're in the bathroom. I can just see them from here."

"Oh _God…"_

"It could have been worse, you know…"

" _How_ , pray tell?"

"We could have been with a _guy_ …"

"… … …"

"…What?"

"I can't tell if you're being serious or not."

"Around you, I'm always serious."

"Hmm… that's good to hear."

"Um, …Ruby?"

"What?"

"Could you let go of me? I'd like to go fix us something for breakfast…"

"Another hour and we could just have _lunch."_

"Hmm… good point. How long before Yang comes to get you?"

"She won't come until I call her. We could have _all day_ … if you want."

"… … …That sounds good to me."

…

…

…

* * *

 **=^w^=**


	13. Round Two

**Disclaimer: As per usual, I do not own RWBY in any way. Seriously, why do I even need to say that anymore?**

* * *

… _  
_… … _  
_… … …

Neopolitan used to be a normal, albeit slightly nerdy teenage girl.

She used to stutter out of sheer nervousness, wear glasses that would get constantly scratched up, and find herself the victim of bullying more often than you would imagine for a school like RTA Academy. She constantly kept to the side of the hallways and the corners of the classrooms.

All that changed the day she met Weiss Schnee.

The feeling was not love. She knew that for a fact. It went so far _beyond_ love that it wasn't even in the same category. Weiss was the very definition of perfect – perfect body, perfect mind, perfect soul.

Yes, that was it… they were soulmates. They belonged together. Neo changed herself in ways that she never thought twice about, all so she could better let Weiss Schnee glow with a glorious radiance that could only belong to a goddess. Weiss was an incarnate deity… and Neo was her prophet. Together they would bring light to this dark world.

But then her soulmate vanished, and Neo spared no expense to find her. Word soon reached her ears of a new player in their little drama… a false prophet, if you will. Some redhead called Ruby.

Neo wasn't worried at first. Others had tried to win her soulmate from her, but all found themselves stricken with unnatural bad luck (tee-hee). Surely this new threat would cower away and leave them in peace. Surely.

But then Neo lost their contest… and had to watch them… … … k-k-k-k-k-k… … … …

 _NO! THIS CANNOT BE ALLOWED!_

"Miss Neo… are you alright over there?"

The mature voice of the math teacher pulled the short girl from her daydream enough that she finally realized that she had yelled that last part out loud. Neo's face went beet red as she shrank in on herself and meekly said, "…Yes, ma'am."

Weiss would have laughed at her for an outburst like that… no doubt. She couldn't bear the thought of making a fool of herself in front of her soulmate.

This was all that Ruby's fault.

Weiss was not acting like her usual self anymore… in fact, according to her sources, Neo found that Weiss was like a completely different person. And it wasn't that Velvet girl, either – she allowed that one to remain close only as a personal favor – so it could only be Ruby. That girl had done something to corrupt the pureness of her soulmate.

And she would pay for it, oh yes…

"…"

So absorbed was Neo in her own thoughts that she failed to notice how loudly she was laughing maniacally… or how the students sitting nearest to her slowly shifted their chairs away.

Ms. Goodwitch simply sighed and shook her head, muttering, "I don't want to know…"

…

Soon enough, Neo once again confronted her rival after the day's classes ended. As before, the tall brown-themed girl was there to witness the event. Every eye in the room was fixed on the pink-and-brown girl as she boldly made her challenge:

"Ruby Rose, I challenge you to another drawing contest! Round two!"

"… … …Why?"

"Because a single victory does not make one the supreme champion. I wish to confirm that your win was not a mere fluke."

"I take it you weren't listening to Ms. Fall's explanation…?"

"To ensure you won't refuse, I have decided on the terms of victory as well."

"You're not even listening to _me…_ "

"In short, the winner of this round _names their own terms."_

The room fell silent at this news. Neo was either setting herself up for a monumental victory… or digging her own grave. Odds favored the latter, but she would never say that out loud.

In truth, Ruby's talent deeply scared her. Neo didn't want to believe that _anyone_ could beat her in the one skill she'd honed to perfection over most of her life.

"My own… terms…?" Ruby seemed a bit overwhelmed at that. Good. Anything to throw her off her game was more than welcome.

"Indeed… and I name mine right now," Neo declared, then paused for effect. Once sure everyone was giving her their undivided attention, she said, "If I win, I take Weiss to PlushWorld… and Ruby pays for the tickets."

Everyone in the room made a choking sound, and Ruby looked ready to throw up. Neo grinned – tickets to PlushWorld were _not_ cheap.

Weiss… _glorious_ Weiss… patted Ruby's back comfortingly and said, "You won't have to worry about that, since she _won't_ win."

"Time will tell, my soulmate… time will tell…"

Weiss brushed the comment aside as she faced Neo and said, "In that case, I shall declare the terms of your loss – delete your photo of me and Ruby, and swear to never be a voyeur again."

There was a brief moment of panic in Neo's mind before Weiss' words set in and she understood the full meaning. "Weiss, …I don't have any photos of you and _her…_ in fact, I haven't taken any pictures since I transferred in. But if you want, we could take one right… now…? What?"

Weiss locked eyes with Ruby as a look of confusion passed between them. "What are you talking about? Of course you have one… you took a photo of us last month, just behind the school. We were… having a moment. Remember?"

Last month? But that was…

"That's impossible, even for me. I hadn't even had my first day here yet." And it was true, too – Neo's first day was just after this alleged incident.

Weiss' arms crossed as she put on an annoyed face. "We found your parasol at the scene, right next to where the photo was taken. I took it home with me and confirmed it was yours. How can you still deny it?"

Now it was Neo's turn to be confused. Her parasol?

"My parasol is by the front door of the school with everyone else's… I've had it with me every day since I first got it."

An odd silence fell over the room. Evidently this was not the news they expected to hear.

Weiss slowly turned to a corner of the room and produced an item that certainly _looked_ like Neo's parasol – but that was simply not possible. Not possible. That item should have been where she left it at the start of the day. Not possible.

"Wait a moment…" Neo quietly said, then quickly dashed out the door and over to the main entrance. It was a straight shot, but on the other side of campus. She returned a minute later holding her own parasol.

It wasn't a dream – there were two identical parasols in the room.

For Neo, it was closer to a nightmare.

"So, um…" the tall brown-themed girl started saying, "…so there's a second, similar umbrella. Big deal. That doesn't mean it was her…"

"It's a _parasol,"_ Neo snapped.

Weiss quickly explained, "Umbrellas are waterproof to block rain, but parasols just block the sun. They're just for shade."

Even from behind her sunglasses, it was obvious that the taller teen was rolling her eyes. Neo had to stop herself from sending them rolling across the floor.

"But there _can't_ be two of them… I had this custom made just for you," Weiss stared at the parasol in her hands with a new wonder.

They each opened the items they held, marveling at the fancy lacework of the panels once again. It really was a fine gift. Both parasols seemed to use the exact same mechanism to open and close, and both had the exact same stitching pattern along the entire surface. There was virtually no difference between them.

"How strange," Weiss muttered as she went to close hers, …but then she lost her grip on the panels and over-adjusted… and the handle suddenly came loose…

All at once, they found a difference.

Weiss' parasol had a _sword blade_ hidden in the handle.

"…"

Nobody moved for a full minute. Nobody seemed to even breathe.

Ruby spoke first, looking at Neo as she said, "Does yours do that?"

" _Hell_ no!" came the reply.

In the end, everyone agreed to never speak of the strange copy parasol again. Weiss agreed to take it back to her home and lock it away in a closet. Neo silently vowed to find whoever had copied her parasol and make them pay.

The matter was never spoken of again.

…

"Okay, first of all… she told me to tell you that leaving now means you forfeit the challenge. I know I'm only a substitute teacher, but she named me the 'official' judge for you two. Deal with it."

Neo stared in disbelief at the black-haired, scruffy man standing before her. And what kind of name was _'Qrow Spelled With A Q?'_

"Okay, so… uh…" the man called Qrow didn't seem to notice Neo's glare as he went about getting their rematch set up. "You guys get two different models this time, rather than one. She said to say, uh… 'Last time was about interpretation, but this time will be about technique as well' …whatever that means."

A gleam returned to Neo's eye. Technique was her strong point.

"Also… she gave me this card to use when judging you. Some kind of weird points system… so it might take me awhile to figure this out."

Neo sat at her desk, facing a literal _pile_ of sports equipment – a hockey stick, a football, a soccer ball, a tennis racket, and a pair of muddy cleats. All had been placed just so… and it was clearly meant to be a still-life. Piece of cake.

Ruby, on the other hand, found herself looking at a very large bouquet of flowers. There were all kinds among them, almost all bearing names Neo herself did not know. _Lots_ of color.

Neo couldn't help but notice that Weiss liked the flowers better than the sporting equipment. The rest of their audience was rather disinterested.

Then came the kicker: their tools. Each only had two colored pencils to work with – Neo had a black and a violet, while Ruby had a black and a crimson red. Both girls also had a small sharpener on the desk, along with a large eraser.

 _Challenge accepted._

…

One hour later, it was all over.

Both artists were busy wiping their hands clean (their tools left a fair amount of smudging). The others in the room engaged them and each other in quiet banter as Qrow Spelled With A Q tried to make sense of the points card.

Neo ignored them. She was too worried.

Ruby Rose was a rare talent, Neo was no longer in doubt about that. She seemed to understand _what_ she was drawing far more than even the most seasoned artist Neo had ever met – and she'd med a lot of them by this point. She didn't just draw what was in front of her, she drew… well, it was hard to explain with words.

Neo reproduced – Ruby _created._

There was no way she could properly compete against _that._

Qrow looked up and called Weiss over to the desk for something. Neo ignored them, once again lost in her own thoughts.

Neo's art was more than a hobby for her… it was her defining skill. It was what she became known for. Anytime she made real friends as a child, it was always birthed from her art.

And when she met Weiss, it was the same. The young Schnee was amazed at Neo's drawing of a housecat.

And from that day on, Weiss became the unwitting subject of most of Neo's drawings – both public and private.

God… if Weiss ever saw the inside of Neo's bedroom…

"Okay, guys… we have a result," Weiss called from the desk.

As everyone in the room made their way to the desk, Qrow explained, "I had to bring Weiss over to double check the numbers… and then we both checked them again…"

On the desk before them sat both Ruby and Neo's drawings. Neo didn't study her own too much, as she was the one who made it – the equipment was almost perfectly reproduced as usual, but she had to be more careful since colored pencil was far less forgiving than graphite. The additional violet was carefully implemented in each item to give a pop of color near the center. Neo considered it to be her most… _creative_ piece to date.

Ruby, however, outdid herself once again. All but one of the flowers from her still-life were rendered in dark shades and blurry lines… except a single rose at the top, which she shaded and blended together to look even more lifelike than the model. The background was a gradient that perfectly drew the eye to the only color on the paper. In a word, it was _beautiful._

Now it was up to the numbers.

Qrow slapped the score card with his free hand and said, "According to _this_ thing, …it's a tie."

Neo's jaw very nearly cracked the floor tiles.

Ruby seemed to forget how to breathe for a few moments.

Qrow rummaged through a few other things and pulled out three tan envelopes: the first said 'Ruby,' the second said 'Neo,' and the third said 'both.' The scruffy man opened the third one and pulled out a note:

… … …

" _To my emotionally drained students,_

" _In the unlikely event that you pull off a tie today, I have taken the liberty of preparing your prize ahead of schedule. Bring yourselves and a few of your friends and meet in the school parking lot tomorrow morning at 7:00 AM. If you are late, you will be left behind._

" _And don't worry about getting permission – you'll find your parents more agreeable than you might think._

" _This invitation is open to the following students: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Neopolitan, Coco Adel, Velvet Scarlatina, Jaune Arc, Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna._

" _Your art teacher,_

" _Cinder Fall."_

… … …

Neo found herself in a state of shock as she went home that day. She wasn't certain of her victory, but neither was she ready to admit defeat… but a goddamned _tie?_ That was almost too much.

And Ms. Fall provided the prize? Neo was in no shape to wonder what it was, nor was she in any shape to sleep. Or eat.

Instead she found herself at her drawing table, just like normal. Drawing was her therapy. Putting her problems into a visual form often helped her centralize it and deal with it.

But then she looked at what she was drawing, and her pencil clattered to the floor, forgotten.

She had drawn Ruby Rose.

And she couldn't look away from it.

What in the hell… … … was going on with her?

… _  
_… … _  
_… … …

Just before Qrow left for the day, he decided to sate his curiosity and peek at the other two envelopes. They were only supposed to be opened in the case of either girl winning over the other, but he was really wondering…

And as he looked, he couldn't help but chuckle at the frightening wit of Cinder Fall. And at the bizarre circumstances he had found himself in.

The other envelopes were empty.

… … … _  
_… … _  
_…

* * *

 **Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, life will not give me a break. And I seem to have some trouble getting my brain back in writing gear of late.**

 **Another short chapter here, but only because I'm used to putting out longer. I don't know where this PlushWorld idea came from, but Imma run with it. Think of it like a theme park… of plushies, I guess?**

 **As far as that other parasol is concerned… don't worry too much about it, okay?**

 **=^w^=**


	14. Obligatory School Field-Trip Scene

**Disclaimer: I literally just made up this 'PlushWorld' thing off the top of my head… it was meant to be a parody of that other major theme park that's rather well-known all around the world… :)**

* * *

… _  
_… …  
… … …

Once upon a time, there was a shy little girl named Velvet. Maybe you knew someone like her? Always nice to the other kids, always trying her best in class, and always picked on by the bullies. That was Velvet in a nutshell.

One day, a boy called her house on a Friday afternoon and told her he had a crush on her. Said he'd liked her for a long time. Velvet was happy to hear this. Excited. Nervous. No one had ever told her that before. She knew the boy, and while she was surprised he would have feelings like this, she never suspected anything bad.

All weekend she thought about him, getting herself more excited. All weekend she built her hopes up… only to watch them crash down around her come Monday morning.

It was a prank. A stupid joke.

He didn't mean it.

… … …That son of a bitch.

The shy little girl did not show up to school again after that day – instead, a bitter, angry little girl showed up. No longer did she try to make anyone happy. No longer did she try her best. She no longer cared.

A few years later, Velvet met another young woman with bright, pale blonde hair. She was a rich girl, but seemed to fully understand how Velvet felt at the time. Against her will, the two of them bonded. Without any understanding of why, Velvet had found her best friend in Weiss Schnee.

But the pain of that joke never left her – she carried it around in her heart every day. Velvet had vowed to never take anyone seriously again if they tried to show any interest in her. She never wanted to be hurt like that again. Even if it meant she never found anyone special until she was 30 years old, she would not allow anyone to get close to her heart. Ever.

Admittedly, spending time around Weiss allowed Velvet to bloom once again into a friendly, outgoing personality – but that was all on the outside. Dig down even a little and you'll eventually find that hard, bitter shell just beneath the sweet fluff.

"So… Velvs… what do you like to do in your spare time? You look like a study-bug, but I have to wonder if you have any… _spicy_ little secret hobbies?"

And then there was Coco Adel.

Velvet had heard about Coco sometime last year – you don't go to the same high school as the most notorious female 'playboy' in the state and not notice. Coco was a renowned lesbian, famous even in other schools. That being said, Velvet was both flattered that someone with a reputation like her would show interest in the school wallflower… and instantly suspicious.

So far this year Velvet had been getting even more attention from fellow students… but she suspected it was mainly due to her connection with the daughter of the Schnee family. Up until this point, their friendship had been kept mostly under wraps. Now it was more public.

So it was quite easy to suspect Coco of aiming for the rich girl… by going through her nerdy little friend first.

"My hobbies, social activities and measurements are none of your concern _Miss Adel,"_ Velvet snapped. "So please quit asking."

Coco _tsk-_ edand sat back in her seat, muttering, "Okay, okay… playing hard-to-get eh? I like a challenge… heh heh heh…"

Velvet suppressed a shudder. Damn pervert.

From her seat near the back of their bus, Velvet could look out over the other seats and spot where most of the others were sitting. Ruby and Weiss shared a seat up near the front and Jaune was next to Blake, but Yang and Neopolitan each sat alone… at least, she assumed as much – Neo could be anywhere, but she was short enough to hide behind the seat.

How and why Neo came at all was quite the mystery to Velvet.

Hell, no one even knew where they were _going._

Miss Fall sat near the front of the bus, holding quiet conversation with their driver. Velvet sincerely hoped they would get some kind of explanation before they went much further. It was likely she would wait until they were stopped at the least – trying to talk to a group of people on a school bus _in transit_ was not a great idea.

Velvet had been one of the members of the audience yesterday as Ruby and Neo ended their second drawing contest with a tie. She had listened as Miss Fall's letter was read aloud. And she had been mystified by her parents reaction to news of her trip today – they were just as agreeable as the letter implied.

All at once Velvet realized that Miss Fall was like a spider – slowly spinning a thin web all around them until it was too late to escape. They had all been well and truly caught.

"You know… if you're getting sleepy, my shoulder is open to you. I don't mind," Coco said with a grin on her face.

Velvet gave her a flat look and said, "I'd rather climb out this window and nap on the roof of this bus… but thanks for the offer."

Just at the edge of her vision, Velvet noticed Coco giving an exaggerated snapping motion. _Foiled again._ The shorter girl allowed herself a small smile since she was still looking out the window.

It was too bad they couldn't sit three to a seat – she would have joined Ruby and Weiss in a heartbeat.

…

…

"Before any of you ask, yes… we are indeed at PlushWorld."

The bus had finally come to a stop next to the largest theme park Velvet had ever seen. They had parked _in_ _the parking lot_ of the park. But why…?

Miss Fall continued, "Allow me to explain from the beginning – after _those two_ mentioned this place, I decided to plan this trip…" she motioned towards Ruby and another seat near the front, likely where the midget was sitting, "but there was a bit of a snag. I won't bore you with the details, but in short I applied for the creation of a new after-school club to make this a legitimate school trip."

She smiled pleasantly, sending a chill down Velvet's spine, and said, "The eight of you are now official members of the Oum High School Art Club."

"I quit," Yang spoke an instant later.

"Then you can walk home right now," Miss Fall didn't miss a beat. "This trip is for club members only."

"Ooh…" the blonde groaned, "You're evil…"

 _Well-played Miss Fall, …well-played._ Velvet was legitimately impressed. That also explained how she nabbed a school bus, and even went a ways in explaining how she got the permission from everyone's parents.

Jaune scratched his head, looking confused. "Then… why was _I_ invited?"

"To inflate my numbers," Miss Fall replied casually. Half the bus sweat-dropped.

The bus driver opened the door to let them out as Miss Fall continued, "I'll go over the finer details later, but for now I'll just give you two rules for today – first, the person you're sitting next to will be your 'buddy' for the day, and second, since this is a 'club activity' you will have to produce _something_ I can grade before we leave. I have a supply of paper and a few pencils if you need them."

Jaune and Blake looked at each other awkwardly. Yang gave the boy a glare.

Ruby and Weiss shared a look and a giggle.

Velvet felt her stomach drop into her shoes.

A hand with a fingerless black glove appeared from one of the seats in front of her, but before anything was asked Miss Fall said, "Neo, you can go with Yang."

Two identical _tsk_ sounds came from each girl. Everyone else sweat-dropped again.

From beside her, Velvet could _feel_ Coco's stupid grin. So much for playing hard-to-get.

What kind of day was she in for?

* * *

… _  
_… …  
… … …

Weiss had never been to PlushWorld before. Neither had Ruby.

But they soon found a most _unexpected_ sight.

"Sal-u- _tations,_ Ruby Rose!" came the cheerful call of a ginger-haired teen just ahead of them on the path.

Ruby seemed to know the girl. _"Penny?_ What are you doing here?"

The girl called Penny made an indignant gesture, pouting, "Am I not allowed to visit a _public_ theme park? Is this place your personal playground?"

Ruby made a slow, theatrical punch at the girl's face, missing by several inches, but the girl still acted like she'd taken a full hit… also in slow motion. Both were grinning at the exchange.

Weiss just blinked. What was _that_ supposed to be?

Ruby turned back to Weiss as she introduced the new ginger-haired teenager. "Weiss, this is Penny Polendina. We went to the same middle school up until last year…"

"But then you _betrayed_ me… how could you move away and go to _Oum_ High? We were supposed to both go to _Shawcross_ High… _whine…_ "

"It's not the same effect if you say the _word_ whine…" Ruby said as she rolled her eyes.

"Oh… it's not? I see…" Penny blinked, looking contemplative. "I'll remember that."

Sensing her chance, Weiss held out her right hand and said, "Weiss Schnee. Nice to meet you."

Penny blinked at the outstretched hand. Weiss tilted her head in slight confusion.

Ruby quickly muttered, "…Try your other hand."

Still confused, Weiss held out her left hand instead. Penny smiled and shook it happily. "Nice to meet you," she said.

"Her right hand is… a bit hard to work with…" Ruby tried to explain, which only served to confuse the young Schnee more.

Penny pulled her long sleeve up to the elbow of her right arm… and Weiss stared at the plastic shell that sat where flesh usually would be. It was a prosthetic arm.

"I lost the arm back when I was little. All the way up to the shoulder," she motioned to the joint, pressing a finger at the spot where plastic met flesh beneath the fabric. "Ruby is the only one I've ever met who isn't creeped out by it. She's my best-est friend!"

A tingle in the back of her head got Weiss' attention as Penny fawned over Ruby. There was something… _else_ … behind Penny's words. Ice-blue eyes narrowed as she watched the ginger-haired girl talk.

"Is your dad here with you?" Ruby looked around eagerly.

Penny nodded towards a nearby ride, "Yes, he'll be coming out of there in a few minutes. I'm waiting for him here."

"Mister Ironwood is Penny's stepfather. He coaches a little-league team back where I used to live," Ruby explained. Weiss nodded, wondering just what kind of man could put up with a girl like this.

The young Schnee took a breath and said, "Well it was lovely to meet you Miss Polendina, but Ruby and I are actually here as part of a club activity. We should get going soon."

"If you need a tip… I happen to know that the line for the log plume ride is quite short at the moment," Penny offered.

"Ooh… I love that kind of ride! Come on Weiss, let's do it!" Ruby's eyes sparkled.

Weiss smiled as she took Ruby's hand and started to walk away. She clearly saw Penny's face as the girl's green eyes locked onto their clasped hands. The girl did _not_ look happy.

Just before they got out of sight, Weiss and Penny's eyes locked. Penny had a clear look of challenge painted all over her face.

 _Well… this could get complicated…_

* * *

… _  
_… …  
… … …

Coco's mind was running full-speed as soon as Miss Fall named her and Velvet as 'buddies' for the day. Suddenly Coco had found herself on a date and she was determined to make this work.

She was ready to _kiss_ their teacher for this… but didn't want to have to take any anti-venom for the spider bite.

Coco had been to PlushWorld once before, but she had been quite a bit younger. Most of the attractions she remembered were still there on the map, but a few new ones had cropped up since. Her brown eyes glittered as she planned out their day.

Just to her side, Velvet looked like she was trying to _will_ herself as far away as she could… but didn't want to incur the wrath of Cinder Fall by ignoring her rules.

Coco knew better than to try and hold her hand. She'd likely get it bitten off.

Most of the rumors about Coco were well-founded – she was actually just as flirty as everyone said. For her, the heart of a girl was little more than a plaything. She had mastered the art of stealing hearts back in middle school and ever since it was merely a past time. No challenge. No spark.

But then she was introduced to Velvet Scarlatina. And she felt a spark.

She had to know why.

Her plan took the two of them to various rides all over the park. The frequently caught glimpses of the other pairs as they went, but Coco steered them clear every chance she got.

Velvet was adamant about keeping a sour face for the entire day, but every so often her façade cracked. The teacup ride certainly had an effect – the bespectacled teen actually laughed as they spun at ridiculous speeds. She tried to act like it didn't happen afterwards… which just made her look cuter.

No attempt at small talk was given more than a brisk shooting-down. Trying to buy one drink with two straws nearly got said drink dumped all over her. Pulling Velvet's shoulder to guide her to another ride almost got Coco punched square in the face.

Oddly, Velvet offered to cover both her and Coco's lunch. She even bought each of them a matching PlushWorld keychain as a souvenir.

In short, Coco was having a wonderful day.

About an hour before they had to meet back at the bus, Coco stood with Velvet watching the colors of the setting sun. Velvet was smiling at that moment – Coco remembered that detail correctly.

"If you don't mind my asking, have you ever had a boyfriend?"

Velvet's smile dropped instantly as she answered, "I _do_ mind…"

"It's just that… you seem like the kind of girl that has to beat the boys off of you with a crowbar."

"Coco… stop," the brown-themed girl missed the warning tone in the shorter teens voice.

"I had a lot of fun today, Velvs. I think you did too, despite how hard you tried to hide it. I dunno… you think we could do this again?"

"Seriously… don't go there…"

"After all, can't let _Ruby_ have all the fun-"

 _SLAP!_

Coco's vision swam with stars for a moment as the feel of Velvet's palm lingered on her cheek. Her sunglasses had been knocked off her face and were laying a few feet away on the concrete. Nearby guests had stopped walking to stare at the scene.

Velvet's brown eyes were wide with a glare as tears welled up beside them. Her mouth was set in a furious scowl. Both of her hands were balled up in shaking fists. She looked like she was ready to tear Coco's head from her shoulders, but decided instead to march off towards the front gate and make for the bus.

The tall teenager was left stunned. Just what exactly did she say to get that kind of reaction?

And why was she feeling so… _excited_ right now?

Stupid hormones.

* * *

… _  
_… …  
… … …

Blake was feeling rather bad for Jaune. The poor guy had no idea what he had gotten himself into. Quite frankly, neither did Blake. They didn't have art class at all, but Miss Fall was a bit notorious in the school.

And now they were members of the Art Club? Yikes.

Blake could draw a bit, but nothing award-winning like she'd seen Ruby draw. She knew Jaune could doodle a bit, too… but God only knew about Coco and Yang's skill. Yang could probably pull off stick figures, but she didn't hold out much hope.

The pair had not done much of anything most of the day, so Blake consoled herself by watching the others. Yang and Neo split up almost immediately after getting into the park, with the latter following after Ruby and Weiss all day. Yang quickly made her way to each and every one of the park's biggest rides in an effort to make the most of her time. Most people didn't get the chance to come to a major park like this every day.

Blake seriously hoped the blonde wouldn't come out and follow her and Jaune for the rest of the day. She still had too much to think about.

"You alright over there, Blake?" Jaune spoke up from across the table.

"Hmm?" the teen looked up from staring at the table, then sighed. "Am I that obvious?"

"I'm pretty sure everyone in the park can tell you're distracted," Jaune said with a warm smile.

Blake's forehead met the surface of the table with a _thwack._

"Blake, if you need to talk about something, I'm right here." Jaune adjusted himself in his seat. "If not, I'll still be here."

The black-haired girl sat upright, rubbing her forehead. "Have you ever told someone a small lie… that ended up spiraling out of control before you knew it?"

"Can't say that I have…"

"And maybe you did it… because you were afraid of your own feelings about the person you're lying to…"

"Um… Blake?"

"And maybe you're feeling guilty about how that person is starting to look more and more angry about the lie you told them… to the point of spraining their wrist…"

An awkward silence fell over them. Yang had explained to the group why her arm was still sore before they got on the bus.

Jaune cleared his throat first, "So… Yang, huh?"

Blake's forehead and the table had a reunion, this time with two _thwacks._

"And based on how you and Coco have been acting these past few days… I take it she knows too?"

Three _thwacks._ The table was starting to tilt with each hit.

Jaune was starting to be worried about the girl, so he tried by saying, "Look… I won't pretend to be an expert on stuff like this, but it's clear that keeping this secret is hurting you. A lot. Would telling her the truth be any worse?"

No _thwacks_ this time.

He hesitantly continued, "I mean… it's clear she still thinks about you a lot. And if she's ready to fight an imaginary character for you, maybe you need to tell her not to bother…"

Blake lifted her head and regarded the blonde boy. "It's not that simple. Yes it hurts, but I'm more scared than anything. I don't know how to deal with this. I don't know how to deal with _Yang._ I just… don't know."

Then Blake saw Jaune's eyes glance over to one side, looking at something behind her. Or someone. And she just knew.

"How long have you been standing there?" Blake sighed without moving or turning.

"Ever since the part about 'telling someone a small lie…'" Yang replied. Her tone implied that she had her arms crossed as she spoke.

Any and all courage Blake thought she had gathered decided to flee at that moment. Yang took the seat next to Blake and sat back with her arms crossed again, glaring silently at the amber-eyed teen.

Yang seemed ready to punch someone.

All Blake wanted to do at that moment was cry.

Jaune, who had nowhere to escape to, simply swallowed hard and prepared to dodge any flying projectiles.

* * *

… _  
_… …  
… … …

When James Ironwood went into that 3D ride with the rest of the crowd, Penny was in a good mood. By the time he came out, she was not. In fact, she looked like she was ready for war.

"Father," she said as he walked over to her, "…What would it take to get me transferred to Oum High? This year? As soon as possible?"

The man sighed, closing his eyes. Something must have happened. Goodness. You take your eyes off a kid for ten minutes…

* * *

… _  
_… …  
… … …

Cinder Fall remained near the front gate for the day. She never liked big crowds and happy-sappy places like this.

Her 'Art Club' idea worked like a charm, but she was not willing to let those kids know that this trip was meant to be a reward. She didn't want to ruin her reputation, after all.

This group seemed to come with quite a bit of pre-loaded drama, however. As she sat at the head of the bus on the trip home, she glanced back at the new seating arrangements… and the overall mood of the kids.

Coco and Blake sat at the back of the bus, each by themselves and looking rather whipped. Ruby and Weiss still sat in the front seat, dozing lightly on each other's shoulders. They were a cute pair, really. Everyone else sat alone in various seats all throughout, most looking out the windows and trying not to pay any attention to each other.

Everyone had done a quick drawing of something in the park – either one of the plushy-based mascots or a photogenic building – so she had nothing to chide them about. In fact, today seemed to go just fine.

She then glanced back and noticed Neo staring at Ruby. She would have expected the midget to be staring at Weiss, but those multi-colored eyes were definitely locked onto the redhead.

She also had a disturbed look in her eyes. Interesting.

Cinder chuckled as she thought about what to expect from this crazy group of kids.

* * *

…

… …

… … …

 **Author's Note: Have you ever tried to throw characters into a scenario and just… watch them preform in your mind? And then they do something you didn't expect? That's kind of what happened here. I had** _ **no plan**_ **with this chapter when I started, but these guys just went and did their own thing.**

 **On a personal note, another of my own experiences was reflected in the very first scene of this chapter – I actually** _ **did**_ **get that phone call from a girl in 9** **th** **grade that turned out to be a prank. Trust me, it sucks.**

 **Feel free to leave a review!**

 **=^w^=**


	15. A Little Less Conversation

…

… … …

… … … … …

"Missed you yesterday, Blake."

"…"

"Oh, I get it… you're giving me the silent treatment too?"

"…?"

"Thought so. That's alright, Velvet isn't acknowledging my existence, either."

"Something happen during the trip?"

"Yes… and no. Yes in that something happened, but…"

"…But you don't know what you did."

"That about sums it up. Thing is, I know she's mad at me and everything, but… for some reason, I can't help but think we'll be okay in the end."

"You've got it _bad_ , huh?"

"Bad enough that I'll fight through hell and highwater pants…"

"And from somewhere on campus, Jaune just sneezed."

"Easy to picture. Heh. If memory serves, he's been going to the Track Club a lot lately. Found himself a smokin' hot redhead, right?"

"That's what I hear, too."

"He's been hanging around me too long, I suppose…"

"Coco Adel, the most humble gigolo in the county."

"Self-proclaimed, I might add."

*sigh* "I've wished for your confidence more than once in my life."

"Feeling… _Yang-_ xious?"

"One more pun and they'll never find the body…"

"Yep, blonde trouble. Good to know I'm not the only one who had a fight with her girlfriend last weekend…"

" _SHE. IS NOT. MY…"_

"Babe, the whole freaking _school_ knows by now. And no, _I_ didn't tell them (this time)."

"Oh, for the love of…"

"So what exactly happened? Did someone else tell her about your… you know… _lie?_ Or did you let the cat out of the bag on your own?"

*mutter*

"You'll have to speak above a mutter if you want me to hear you…"

"… … …I said it… … …"

"Ouch. That probably didn't go over well."

"Ever seen a human fireball turn into an icicle in a matter of seconds? It's not fun, let me tell you."

"Well… I _have_ seen a timid little bunny rabbit grow _fangs_ … does that count?"

"… … …"

"… … …"

"We're just a pair of hopeless fools, aren't we?"

"Hopelessly in love, you mean."

*sigh*

*sigh*

"I don't think I can face Yang again."

"… … …What about if I back you up? Less chance of brutal manslaughter if there's a witness, right?"

"That' _so_ comforting…"

"At least I tried."

"I'll keep your offer in mind. In exchange, I guess… I can talk with Velvet a little, see if I can get her to tell me her side of what happened."

"Blake, you are an _angel…!"_

"Bear in mind that the last girl who kissed me got a broken nose…"

"Ah… I'll remember that…"

"…"

"…"

"That …Art Club thing meets on Fridays after school, right?"

"Yep. Hope you can make it!"

* * *

…

… … …

… … … … …

"Did you get to talk to Blake yet?"

"No, Ruby, I didn't. I already told you that, remember?"

"Yes, you said that _yesterday._ I was asking about _today."_

"Still no."

"Yang, you can't keep this bottled up forever. You have to talk to her and get it out of your system. And soon… if you snap at _me,_ there'll be more than a few people out to skin your hide."

"Like your frosty little girlfriend?"

"The only one I've seen of late that qualifies as _cold_ is you."

"Like it's _my_ fault…"

" _Yang!"_

"Okay, _okay!_ I'll look for her tomorrow and say something! Happy now?"

"I _will_ be when you stop acting like some brooding character from a soap opera."

"…"

"…Punching me won't help you feel better, Yang…"

"…!"

"…?"

"I'm sorry… I guess I've been more on-edge than I thought…"

"There, see? The first step to solving the problem is admitting you have one."

"And with that, your swirly is scheduled for 30 seconds from now!"

"…Yang… … don't you dare…"

"Heh… heh… heh…"

" _Yang, no! Let go of me!"_

"This might leave you feeling a bit… _flushed…"_

" _\\...#...*…?!"_

* * *

…

… … …

… … … … …

"We've been getting a lot of new students transferring in this year, haven't we?"

"More than usual."

"That one girl, 'Gabby' on her papers, kind of … _forced_ her way in, didn't she?"

"Hey, I didn't feel like dealing with that level of crazy, okay? She wanted in, I let her in."

"You just like 'em short, don't you?"

"I resent that remark. You didn't see her _eyes_ , man. She could have snapped any second. If you want to get stabbed, be my guest."

"What was the name she put on the sheets? Napoleon, or something?"

"No, I think it was Neapolitan… you know, like the ice cream?"

"These kids and their usernames. 'Hashtag: Confused.'"

"Oh, hey! Penny! You know, Ironwood's kid! She's transferring in."

"Huh… odd timing, but what the hey. She'll be good to have around. Might show some of these other punks how to behave properly."

"A few extra notes about her prosthetic arm, but otherwise normal. Who else we got coming?"

"Let's see, uh… Neptune Vas… Ves… Vis-ah-wis-ah… I have _no idea_ how to pronounce that last name."

"Hmm… same here. Not a familiar face, either. Looks like someone to keep an eye on, though. I mean, really? _Blue_ hair? Guy has 'emo' written all over his face."

"And there's an additional page here with lots of big, medical-looking words. He on prescriptions or something?"

"Looks that way. I'm pretty sure this page is between him and the school nurse."

"And the last one is… Mercury Black. Wow, if ever there was a school punk…"

"A perfectly smug grin and a record to match. Yep, we'll keep an eye on _him_ alright."

"I dunno… something about this feels a bit… weird…"

"I know. I feel like something's gonna happen soon."

"Yeah… I'm gonna let one rip…"

"…"

"…~…~…"

"DAMN, dude… _What did you eat?_ "

*gagging noises*

"Jeez… you're gonna set off the school's alarms, you know that?"

"My eyes are bleeding…"

… … … … …

… … …

…

* * *

 **Author's Note: There's still a fair bit of story left for me to tell, but for now I hope you guys enjoy this short, dialogue-only chapter. I've been wanting to try this kind of format again for some time, and now's a good chance. Sorry if it's a bit** _ **too**_ **short for you, I've been distracted by real-life craziness and working on various parts of my main story on one side. The next chapter will be longer, I promise! And yes… fart jokes for the win. ;)**

 **For those who celebrate it, Happy Thanksgiving!**

 **=^w^=**


	16. A Little More Action Please

**Author's Note: I'm gonna try and wrap up this arc of the story by chapter 18 (then switch back to** _ **Paradigm**_ **). For today, at least, I wanna go back to a currently underdeveloped pairing and give it a little push…**

 **(Bare in mind that at the time of writing this chapter, little to no information exists pertaining to Pyrrha or Jaune's canon families – any names I present here are made up as I go along.)**

 **Disclaimer: Potentially poor use of the Greek language ahead. Song lyrics belong to their respective copyright holders.**

* * *

…

… … …

… … … … …

Jaune's mother, while well-meaning, was adamant in the idea that Jaune himself would never, _ever_ drive a car until after he had graduated high school… despite the fact that most, if not _all_ of his peers would be doing that very thing by their junior year or earlier.

That being the case, the boy was doomed to never be able to go out on his own and enjoy even a slight taste of freedom. Or pick up a date on his own. Nothing. He might as well have gotten a tattoo that said 'Forever Alone.' On his forehead. In Comic Sans font.

So yeah, he wasn't feeling too good about himself right now.

When he'd initially asked the epic question to the Greek transfer student-slash-goddess, Jaune was riding a high – but now that he was _here,_ waiting for his date to arrive, he'd hit an all-time _low._ Pretty much every member of his expansive family also felt the need to offer some 'advice' before he got dropped off to his first-ever date, none of which was helpful.

Pretty sure Sera's tip to not kiss Pyrrha on the eyeball wasn't needed very much. At least she tried, right?

But seriously, why did Pyrrha actually _accept_ his request, anyway? She could have had – literally – _anyone_ she wanted for herself. Jocks from all over the country should have been lining up to offer their own left arms for the chance. He would have been there with them… admittedly, at the back of the line.

"Shawn…! I am sorry, I did not realize I was late!"

Biting back the automatic _'It's Jaune, actually'_ response, the blonde boy stood to his feet as Pyrrha Nikos approached from the glass double-doors. She was dressed in a lovely red blouse and dark pants with a gold-colored scarf hanging low around her neck. Thankfully she elected to wear pumps – in heels, she would have _towered_ over the poor boy.

"Ah, don't worry about it. I'm always early for… stuff like this…" he admitted while scratching his neck awkwardly. For once the boy was wearing a pair of properly fitted trousers with a good shirt and shoes. He looked quite handsome… at least, according to his mother and two oldest sisters. The rest of them just giggled like there was some inside joke going on.

Pyrrha bowed in apology, almost pleading, "It was …um… _terrible_ of me to make you wait! I am so sorry. Please…"

"No, really, don't worry about it. I'm fine, you're fine, we're all fine." Jaune grimaced as he realized what was happening. "How about we …get a table before we just sit here apologizing all night?"

The redhead smiled warmly as she nodded. They made their way in and got their table.

At Denny's. Fine dining at its best.

…

"So…" Jaune started the conversation, feeling good about himself after staying under budget so far, "You're from Greece, right? What part?"

"A small island called Naxos, in the Aegean Sea. I grew up pretty much in the shadow of Apollo's Temple," she answered between bites of fresh pancakes.

"That sounds _awesome_ ," came his reply. "Must be pretty nice there." He was digging into his own skillet breakfast with aplomb, but still paying attention.

"It is. I became used to it growing up, but I have a better liking …um … _appreciation_ for it now."

"And your family? What are they like?"

"My father is learning… I mean, studying to be a lawyer. My mother bakes bread and sells it in our _geitonia…_ I mean, our neighborhood."

Jaune paused, watching the normally unflappable amazon start stumbling over her words. It seemed her study of the English language wasn't quite complete. "Any brothers or sisters?" he added, hoping to spare her any longer explanations for a bit.

"No…" She answered glumly.

"It's alright… I've actually got _seven sisters._ My mom once told me she only had _me_ to keep the number from being too… _odd._ " He chuckled at the woman's strange sense of humor. Pyrrha laughed a bit, but most likely only because he laughed first. It took a strong will to keep up with _his_ family.

"My dad works out-of-state, but Mom can handle all of us just fine. She once said she turned down a job with the Army. They wanted as a drill sergeant – but she didn't want to scare anybody away from enlisting!"

This got a genuine chuckle from the redhead. He breathed a sigh of relief – if she could unwind that far, maybe things would go well…

 _CLICK_

Just past Pyrrha's head came the flash of a camera-phone going off, aimed right at the pair. Jaune's eyes lost focus for a few seconds as a familiar voice spoke up, "Well, well… you two look like you're having fun."

"Was that _really_ necessary, Coco?"

The brown-themed girl put her phone away and gave the blonde boy a theatrically innocent smile. "Don't worry, Jaunny Boy… my intentions are pure."

"Pure _evil…"_

She gave a mild cackle as she strode off, casually saying, "Don't sweat the details… just be glad your rise to internet stardom won't happen _right away…_ Mwa-ha-ha…" And with that, she left the restaurant.

The pair continued eating in silence, all thoughts of continuing the previous conversation now dead.

Just under her breathe, Pyrrha muttered a line in Greek that Jaune made a point to remember: _"Poso malakas ise…?"_

…

About three hours later, the pair were waiting in front of the theater for their respective rides home. Both were full of good memories, laughter, and popcorn of course.

"I don't usually like musicals, but that one was pretty good. Never knew P.T. Barnum's life was so hectic," Jaune mentioned between bouts of humming the movies' catchy tunes.

"Agreed. I have been to the circus back home, but I had no idea that was where it all started! _Afto itan fantastiko!"_ Pyrrha's eyes were sparking as she slipped into her native tongue. Jaune chuckled a little at how …unguarded the transfer student was at that moment.

Pyrrha must have misunderstood the laughter, for she suddenly blushed a furious crimson and started bowing profusely, saying, "Oh! I am so, so sorry… I did not mean to… Oh my…"

Jaune's hands went up automatically, "Hey, hey, it's fine! I actually like it when you talk more… normally. You don't have to apologize!"

The redhead paused mid-bow, her face a mix of concern and apprehension. "But… my papa… I mean, my father… he told me the people of this land do not like hearing any language other than their own. He told me they would get …mad …if I spoke normally…"

"I admit there are some people in this world who _are_ that stupid, but trust me… I am _not_ one of them," he reassured her. "You don't have to worry about things like that around me. Just… be yourself."

The look that came over Pyrrha's face was almost indescribable. It was as though the pressures of overseas living and the crushing weight of her family's hopes and dreams just… fell away. Her brow un-furrowed, her shoulders loosened, and her entire body just… seemed lighter.

That, and her smile was far brighter than he'd ever seen it before.

"Thank you, Shawn. You have… no idea what that means to me…"

It took a tremendous force of will to hold back the automatic _'It's Jaune, actually'_ response he'd become so used to over the years (people got his name wrong a _lot_ ). Still, he felt that if it was Pyrrha calling him that, he wouldn't mind too much.

Much of that willpower was directed at his eyes in an attempt to keep them from glancing at a pair of figures that had appeared just past Pyrrha on their way out of the theater. A pair with dark red hair and platinum blonde hair, respectively. Pyrrha would have caught the movement and looked herself, thereby ruining the mood they'd built up so far.

Thankfully, Weiss noticed the two of them and rapidly understood the situation. She grabbed her date (muffling the _yelp_ of surprise) and quickly ducked back inside.

Jaune made a mental note to find a way to thank Weiss tomorrow.

Quickly remembering himself, Jaune nodded and said, "It's no problem, really. I've actually thought about learning Greek at some point, so meeting someone who's actually _from_ Greece is a nice bonus."

Pyrrha's smile turned a shade mischievous as she said, _"Eimai prothymos na sas didaxo, …alla mono an eiste o filos mou."_

Jaune blinked a few times. "Uh… okay…?"

Pyrrha giggled at his cluelessness and started to say something, but that was when her ride pulled up to the curb. Rather than what she would have said, she leaned close and kissed his cheek, saying, "I will see you later, Shawn. _Kalinychta."_

As much as he hoped that meant 'good night' Jaune was not about to butcher a new language on the first date. "G'night," he said as she climbed in. She gave him a warm smile and a wave as she rode off.

Time seemed to pause as her car pulled away. Jaune almost felt like part of his soul, his very being, were leaving right along with her. It was a strange feeling. He'd known friendship before (and yes, he counted Coco), but this was… so much deeper…

"Was that _Pyrrha_ _Nikos_ just now?" came Ruby's voice just behind him, shattering the blonde boy's reverie. "Wow… how did _that_ happen, vomit boy?"

"It's called _skills,_ crater face," he shot back without missing a beat. His grin was a close match to the shorter redhead's own by this point. The two would have looked like long-lost siblings to any bystanders.

Weiss sighed from the side, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I don't even want to know what that was about," she said wearily, pointing between Jaune and Ruby.

"It's okay… we don't know either," Ruby said with a shrug. Jaune nodded, then held out his fist, which Ruby quickly bumped with her own. Yep, Ruby was _definitely_ another friend.

"So… another date, huh? No _pizza_ this time?" Jaune couldn't help but remember the pair's first date, which naturally brought the two of them to his place of employment on a Friday night. Grr.

Ruby nodded emphatically, then wrapped herself around Weiss' right arm and gleefully said, "Yep-yep-yep! She feeds me, she takes me to see movies… we're practically _married already!"_

Weiss' face turned a shade of red Jaune had only ever seen on Macintosh apples. She also sounded like she was choking on her own lungs. He just managed to hear her mutter under her breath, "That's the last time I give you caffeine after 7…"

"Uh, well… have a good night, you guys!" he called out as they made their way to the parking lot. He watched as they boarded Weiss' scooter (Yang had dubbed it The Devil's Scooter, if he remembered right) and puttered away. Ruby was, of course, holding Weiss tightly from behind.

The platinum blonde looked just as red as before. Jaune chuckled as he gave a silent prayer that the redhead could keep her hands to herself for the duration of the ride, lest they get into an accident.

"Everyone's so happy tonight…" he muttered to himself, still grinning.

It was at that moment that Jaune thought about how popular a pairing those two had become over the few months they'd been together. Literally everyone in the school was aware of their relationship, for better or for worse (a certain pink-and-brown haired midget came to mind for the latter).

Even Coco, in her pursuit of Velvet, was getting rather famous. Not to mention the Blake and Yang soap opera. Oum High's gossip train had been running full steam since the first day of school, and it wasn't about to stop now.

Would he be alright if… God forbid… _he_ ended up on that ride with them? Somehow he suspected Pyrrha would be just fine with it, but… what about Jaune Arc?

Intense green eyes and flaming red hair arose in his mind, coupled with a brilliant smile without any hint of stress or social pressure.

Yeah, he thought… he'd be alright. Pyrrha Nikos was worth it.

As he went back to wait on his own Mom to come get him, Jaune found himself in much higher spirits than when the date started. He lightly started singing to himself as his feet started be-bopping to the rhythm.

"… _Where it's covered in all the colored li~i~ights…_  
 _…Where the runaways are runnin' the ni~i~ight…_  
 _Impossible comes true, it's takin' over you…"_

…

… … …

… … … … …

Later that night, Pyrrha was a tangled mess of emotions.

Dressed in her bright pink pajamas, the Greek girl rolled about on her bed clutching her stuffed bunny rabbit tightly. Her thoughts were on the dorky, out-of-shape, yet _incredibly radiant_ young man she'd just had a date with.

"Why did I _say_ that…? I know he didn't understand me, but… _gamoto!"_

Shawn couldn't run fast enough to save his life. In an emergency, she would likely have to carry him over her shoulders to get them both to safety. Even in this more … _open_ culture, that would be mortally embarrassing for both of them. That was something she could work on, assuming he stayed with the Track Club.

He also wasn't quite as good-looking as some of the boys mama had tried to set her up with in the past. That wasn't his fault, though… not everyone was lucky enough to be born with Greek blood in his veins.

Yet despite all of these negative factors… _why couldn't she stop thinking about him!?_

Maybe it was his kind nature, doing everything in his limited power to make everyone else's lives a little easier… Maybe it was his innocence, that feeling of a pure soul that simply _must_ be protected… There were simply too many thoughts running through her head to sort out.

In the end, it had to be that smile. The smile of a man who never judged, who never held you up to a lofty ideal, and who never sought to bring you crashing back down to ground level. It was a genuine smile. A _real_ smile.

At last she understood – she'd fallen in love with that smile.

She loved him.

Pyrrha Nikos – extraordinary athlete, Greek transfer student to Oum High School and the pride of her hometown – quickly buried her face in her pillow and squealed like a three-year-old.

… … … … …

… … …

…

* * *

 **A/N: Important note to all native speakers of the Greek language – I am** _ **not**_ **fluent in Greek. At all. This chapter contains sentences and words translated by Google, so if I botched anything too badly, it's not my fault. If there's any glaring mistakes, by all means feel free to correct them in a review. I more than welcome your feedback and will gladly update this chapter with the correct translations.**

 **Next chapter: Enough with the side plots already, back to the White Rose stuff!**

 **=^w^=**

… (Source: Google translate) …

' _Kalinychta' – Good night_

' _Afto itan fantastiko' – That was fantastic_

' _Eimai prothymos na sas didaxo, …alla mono an eiste o filos mou' – I'm willing to teach you, …but only if you become my boyfriend._

… (Source: ) …

' _Gamoto' – roughly means Dammit!_

' _Poso malakas ise…?' – lit. How much of a wanker are you…?_


	17. Ultimatum

**Caution: Risqué scene and brief, strong language ahead.**

* * *

…

… … …

… … … … …

Weiss Schnee could count on one hand the number of times she'd been called in to see her father – and all of those times had been about something bad. She simply knew, by pure instinct, that this time would be no different.

If she had known just _what_ he was going to say, she would never have gone to see him in the first place.

"I trust you are well, my daughter?" the man asked with feigned interest. The patron of the Schnee family could have cared less about her daily life in a mere public school… he was just trying to play the part of the concerned father.

"Well enough, I suppose," she replied automatically. The young Schnee was currently sitting in one of the man's two office chairs, ignoring the glass of water provided for her. She was more dressed up than normal, but around her father, there was no such thing as _too dressed up._

Jacques Schnee stood equal in height to Weiss, a fact that always infuriated him, but wore shoes with thick heels to compensate. His three-piece suit was pristine as always, glowing white in the brightly lit office they were currently occupying. He twisted the end of his thick, almost-white mustache as he studied her, a habit he'd always indulged in. At least, as long as Weiss had known him.

"How are your studies coming along? Any difficulties dealing with the other students?" His expression remained flat as he continued his charade of acting like a real parent.

Weiss sighed, bracing herself for the coming storm. Delays like this were the man's way of softening up his victims before delivering the killing blow. "I think we both know you have something important to say, so why don't we just get on with it?"

It almost felt like the clock on the wall forgot to tick for a few seconds as the tension in the air grew palpable. Few could get away with talking to Jacques Schnee like that.

Luckily, Weiss was one of those few. "Very well, … … …As you know, I have never approved of your choice of schools. _And_ you know why…"

Weiss nodded, remembering their last face-to-face meeting. And the harsh words they exchanged at the time. No point in re-igniting that fire.

"That being said, I have taken the liberty of checking up on you from time to time… without your knowledge. And a disturbing rumor has reached my ears."

Normally Weiss would have said something about invasion of privacy, but his tone had become… dangerous. Something had gotten under his skin, and no one would interrupt him until he said his piece.

"I understand you have taken a… _female_ lover… for yourself?"

Weiss could feel her normally pale complexion turning completely white. He knew about Ruby. He shouldn't have known, but…

"I'll take your silence as confirmation. Young Lady, this is unacceptable. You are a Schnee, and I will not allow you to sully my good name by indulging in animalistic debauchery with some… some… _misguided peasant trash!"_

Weiss' face quickly turned from white to a deep shade of red as she fought back indignant rage. How… _DARE…_

"However… I am not _completely_ without a heart. My sources tell me that you are rather… _smitten_ with this girl. While I don't approve of it, I will not force you to dump her right before the holiday season starts. Instead, I will give you an ultimatum…"

Weiss gulped. This would not end well.

"If you manage to dump this girl before the new year, I will stop keeping tabs on you. If not…"

Weiss was trembling in fear of what was coming next. Anger, too.

"…I will pull you from that peasant school and return you to RTA Academy… _where you belong."_

Fear, rage, sadness, indignation, and a dozen other emotions came together in Weiss' mind much like a combination of all soda varieties in one drink at a convenience store. And much like said combination, the resulting crash left the platinum blonde rather speechless.

Two words, however, found their way out of her mouth: "The… tradition…"

"If it means preserving my legacy for the next generation, then I will break not only our family traditions, I would break more than a few _laws."_ The man took a swig of his own drink which Weiss suspected was a bit stronger than normal tea. As in, at least 20-proof. "My family will _not_ end with you, my daughter."

This news forced two additional words past the barrier that was Weiss' mind: "Winter… Whitely…?"

"Your sister is a lost cause, you know that. Ever since she joined that God-forsaken military service, she was lost to me. Your brother… well, let's just say that he is no longer a member of this family. You are all I have left."

One of Weiss' eyebrows shot up at that last part.

The elder Schnee gave a deep sigh and said, with a bit more emotion, "He seems to think I was too forceful in my method of training him to take over my position. He vanished from the manor grounds a week past – all he left was a note that said he was going to live with someone named 'Oscar,' but little else."

Weiss found herself having trouble breathing. This was just one too many blows at once to cope with.

Winter and Whitely were no longer considered part of the family? She had to break up with Ruby by the new year or risk getting sent back to RTA? What was next? Was father going to marry _Yang?_

If he even _implied_ such a thing, Weiss would probably find a gun and blow her own brains out.

"Despite our differences in opinion, I _do_ still care about you – my family means a lot to me. I just want what's best for you, Weiss…"

She couldn't reply. She couldn't say anything. All Weiss could do was turn stiffly on her heels and hobble out of the room before she passed out. The man did nothing to stop her, thankfully.

Things couldn't get much worse…

…

… … …

… … … … …

Ruby was having a wonderful day so far… despite the fact that it was Monday.

She'd slept well, had a good breakfast with both Dad and Yang, and even got to talk to everyone in front of the library (a rare treat of late). Her focus was sharper than ever as she progressed through her classes, her mind eager to see her girlfriend again.

Weiss had been on her mind ever since she'd been dropped off at home after their date last weekend. Her hair, her eyes, her smell – while Ruby was simply attracted to the girl at first, she was close to _obsessive_ now. She found herself wanting to go as far as possible…

But how far was _too far?_

Out of the numerous dates they'd had so far, both Ruby and Weiss had … _enjoyed_ each other's company to great effect. As in, 'enjoyed' each other enough to leave both of them flushed and breathing hard afterwards.

It wasn't _her_ fault Weiss tasted so good…

…

Weiss didn't show up for art class that day – instead, an emotionless clone that looked just like her came in and sat at her desk.

"Weiss, what… what's the matter?" Ruby mumbled as they worked on their assignment.

No response. The girl barely glanced at her.

"Weiss."

The girl's pencil faltered a moment, then paused fully. Ice-blue eyes finally looked at Ruby and the redhead was shocked by what she saw in them – tears. But why?

"Who was it?" Ruby asked quietly, yet with a hint of venom in her words. "Who hurt my Weiss? So help me when I'm done with them, they'll…"

"It's nothing," Weiss cut her off with an obvious lie. "I'll be alright."

Ruby exhaled loudly through her nose. Did Weiss really believe that? Did she really expect _her_ to believe it?

Weiss Schnee was clearly in some sort of pain, but if she couldn't talk about it here…

Without thinking about what she was doing, Ruby stood to her feet and grabbed Weiss' hand, declaring to Ms. Fall, "We're going to the bathroom."

The art teacher sighed, but didn't argue. She simply gestured at the door, as if saying _go on, get out of here._ A few snorts and giggles followed the pair from the room.

Let 'em laugh. Ruby was going to get to the bottom of this.

Weiss protested all the way into the ladies room, but none of it was very harsh. Once inside, she quieted down. Ruby blinked at the personality shift – Weiss Schnee had never been this … _timid_ before.

"What. Is. The matter?" Ruby tried again, this time with a bit more force. Seriously, what could possibly make her change so far from normal? She was fine on their date…

"My father… found out about us… and he… he… _he wants us to break up."_

Ruby's heart fell into her shoes. That was bad news, alright. Weiss came from a well-respected family, and never dared go against her father's wishes.

"Is …that what _you_ want?" the redhead asked carefully.

"What? No! No-no- _no!_ I… I don't…" Weiss blurted out loud, but quickly pulled back. "I don't want to… leave you…"

Ruby gulped. "Then… … … don't."

"It's not that simple," Weiss said, shaking her head for emphasis. "If I don't break this off, Father will pull me from this school and put me back in RTA! I don't have a choice!"

Forget her shoes, Ruby's heart just started a tunnel to the Earth's core. Next stop, China.

"So… we don't have any time left, then…?"

"He gave me… until the new year…" Weiss was starting to let loose a few tears as she gave the damning news. "After that, it's… it's… all over…"

 _Click._

Both Ruby and Weiss were startled to find Ruby's hand holding the lock closed on the bathroom door. It literally moved on it's own.

Ruby's mouth then said, "No time like the present…"

Weiss' eyes went wide as Ruby moved in, pushing the young Schnee up against the back wall. The redhead moved automatically as she pressed close, letting loose her pent-up sexual tension in this moment.

Getting back to class was forgotten. Monday was forgotten. Nothing else mattered right now.

Nothing but Weiss.

"Ruby…" the girl's gasping voice pulled her back just enough to see something dangerous. Ruby's hand was underneath Weiss' shirt and had just started sliding down the front of her Capri pants…

Oh, no… No no no… this wasn't… this wasn't what she wanted… was it?

"Oh God… Weiss, I… I didn't mean…" Ruby started to choke out, but was interrupted by a light kiss on the lips.

Those ice-blue gems glittered as Weiss said, "Did I tell you to stop…?"

Weiss' hand gently grabbed Ruby's hand and guided it further down. Ruby's heart began beating so hard that she was sure the whole school could hear it.

Ruby had to suppress a yelp as a slender hand started inching down the front of _her_ pants next. Weiss had a grin of mischief on her face as she returned the favor.

"Weiss… oh _fuck…_ "

A giggle, followed by, "If you insist…"

…

Thankfully, the bathroom door was thick enough to muffle most of the noises coming out of the room beyond.

It was not, however, _completely_ soundproof. Anyone standing just outside the bathroom could hear some noise if it was loud enough. Like moans. And names shouted between gasps.

"Jesus _Christ,_ you two…" Coco muttered as she waited for the delinquent pair to finish. "Even _I_ don't go that far in the goddamn _school bathroom…!"_

She'd already waited several minutes, and it didn't look like they would finish before the bell.

"They're lucky I didn't grab my phone to record the lovely sound effects…"

…

… … …

… … … … …

The only way Cinder Fall would have missed the signs of what just happened would have been if she was _blind._

Sign 1: Both Ruby and Weiss were out of breath when they came back to the room.

Sign 2: They had been gone for over half an hour.

Sign 3: Both girls were thick with the afterglow. A subtle nod from Coco was confirmation enough.

For crying out loud… why did she have to get the class full of hornballs? At least that Neo girl wasn't in here…

Almost as though she heard the woman's thoughts, Neo entered the room not even 5 seconds after the bell rang. Cinder fully expected her usual antics to start up again, just like normal – she'd been suspiciously absent ever since the trip to PlushWorld.

But this Neo was a shell of her former self. No swagger, no confidence, and no sense of purpose.

Most startling of all was her face – both brown eyes were now hidden behind an old pair of glasses, rife with scratches. There were also large bags under both eyes, as though she hadn't slept.

Weiss walking in like the living dead was bad enough, but Neo too? Was the world about to end or something?

"Ruby Rose…" the midget said in a quiet voice, "…One more t-t-time."

Both Ruby and Weiss exchanged a look of purest shock before the redhead replied, "Um… 'one more' what…?"

"One more d-d-drawing c-c-contest. Winner t-t-take all."

"… … …All?"

Just a little of Neo's old confidence swelled back up as she finally looked the taller teen square in the eye. "Yes. The winner g-gets to date Weiss… _unchallenged_. The loser… g-gives up. Forever."

Weiss flinched at that statement. Ruby grew quite pale.

The redhead opened her mouth to reply, but Coco quickly stepped over and pulled the girl aside to exchanged a few quiet words. The brown-themed girl was not smiling.

Cinder watched all of this unfold, wondering just what they were saying, when Ruby turned back and said, "Agreed."

Neo stood just a bit straighter as she nodded her assent, then said, "Friday after school, like usual?"

"We're both in the Art Club now, so yeah," she answered.

Neo tilted her head in an _oh yeah_ posture, then turned to walk out of the room. She passed Cinder's desk on the way, and the teacher got her first good look at the pink-and-brown girl.

Her eyes were… empty. No life in them anywhere.

Bad sign.

The door barely clicked shut before Cinder was on her feet, muttering a quick "Stay here" to the remaining students as she went after the shorter girl.

She'd seen that look _far_ too often in teenagers before, and it never ended well.

"Neo, wait…" She called before the midget could get too far. Neo stopped, but did not turn around. "Are you… are you feeling okay?"

No response, but the girl slowly turned to look at the art teacher. Her eyes were still empty. Cinder suppressed a chill.

"Look, um… I know I don't look it, but I _am_ licensed as a therapist. I actually specialize in helping teens deal with …depression," she said carefully. "So believe me when I say I know that look in your eyes."

Neo didn't even blink as Cinder pulled a business card from her pocket.

"I know you probably don't want to hear this, but if you ever need someone to talk to, at _any_ time, give me a call. I keep this phone on me at all times, and I _always_ answer it."

A small hand lifted robotically to accept the card, but Neo's eyes didn't so much as twitch during the entire exchange.

"Please, Neo… I just want to help…"

"I can take care of myself," the girl replied in a frightening monotone. She then turned and walked away, not giving the teacher so much as a second glance.

It was times like this Cinder wished she wasn't an atheist – relying on an imaginary god had to be better than banking on pure dumb luck that Neo wouldn't… go too far.

Neo was turning out to be eerily close to Emerald, one of her former students. Cinder had already had to deal with one suicide attempt last year, and she was in no hurry to work with another.

Coco must have recognized that look, too. Her brief conversation with Ruby must have been a warning. That girl might make a good therapist, one day… if she could keep her hands to herself.

Her phone rang, and Cinder checked the caller ID. Callows. Now, of all times?

She swiped 'ignore' and headed back to the classroom.

So many students with uncertain futures… but with enough work, she could make sure at least _one_ of them was a bright one.

… … … … …

… … …

…

 **Author's Note: Hopefully that wasn't too out-of-the-blue for you. Teen depression is a real issue, so I figured someone had to be there to help out – why not Cinder?**

 **Get ready… the next chapter will get rather dark before it's over. Expect the finale before Christmas.**

 **And in case you were wondering, there** _ **will**_ **be a third arc. Later on. Someday. Before 2020.** **I hope.**

 **=^w^=**


	18. A Light At The End Of The Tunnel

**Author's Note:** **The first arc of this story introduced us to the two protagonists, their world, and the blossoming romance between them. The second arc brought new players and a bit of drama to the stage – and now I will present the final pieces of that arc.**

 **Caution: This chapter contains a scene depicting a suicide attempt. Reader discretion is strongly advised.**

* * *

…

… … …

… … … … …

"Hey Weiss… um, I was wondering…"

"What?"

"Didn't Neo… have one pink eye… normally? They were both brown yesterday…"

"She just wears one colored contact lens at a time. She even has a few that make her eyes look white. She would change them around at random back at RTA just to freak people out."

"Huh. That would explain why she was wearing glasses, too."

"It _was_ odd… I hadn't seen her wear those since the day we first met. She was kind of a wallflower back then."

"Now _that's_ hard to imagine."

"I know, right? Less than a week later she's following me around like a lovesick puppy… with half her hair dyed pink."

"Sounds like she cracked, to me."

"…"

"…What?"

"Don't say anything like that around her Friday, okay? I think she _did_ crack just a bit… and anytime her sanity was mentioned back then, she would get a bit… violent…"

*gulp*

"She's gotten better since then, but seriously… don't push your luck."

"Got it. Now can we… um… you know… do _that…_ again…?"

"Ruby Rose, you are a horny little beast."

"… … …Is that a 'no'…?"

"Put that bottom lip away before someone trips on it. Can't you _at least_ wait until after class?"

"…Haven't I waited long enough?"

"If you can wait 'til after class, I'll let you… _take the lead."_

*shudder*

…

… … …

… … … … …

Her father and his ominous warning was the last thing on Weiss' mind that Friday. Quite frankly, she couldn't focus on _anything._ She was too worried about the contest this afternoon.

No matter the outcome of the event, Weiss knew she was doomed. She and the winner, both. In fact, all three of them were in for a bad time.

If (or when) Ruby won, Neo might well go completely insane. More so than she currently was, anyway. Weiss did not relish the idea of her friend being put in a mental ward (regardless of their current relationship, she still considered the midget her friend). The poor girl's mind had taken such a beating already that a loss here would be all it took to send her over the edge.

At the same time, Ruby would only have a month or so to enjoy her 'prize' before it was taken from her. Weiss had already decided on that part – there was _no way_ she was going to break up with Ruby. If father wanted to pull her away, then he would have a monumental fight on his hands… one he would probably win, in the long run.

However, if _Neo_ somehow won, things would be worse. Somehow.

Ruby would no doubt fall into another depression, likely leading to another episode of running away from home. There was also a chance she would grow a vicious side and decide to fight for Weiss – no doubt leading to her getting badly hurt. No, losing Weiss would _not_ end well for the redhead.

Neo, on the other hand, would fight… and fight _hard._ Weiss would not put it past that girl to march right up to Father and introduce him to something sharp and pointy. Several times, if need be. No matter her feelings about the man, she would _not_ allow that.

Dammit. No matter how she looked at it, Weiss could see _no way_ out of this.

It might only be a drawing contest… but it could actually cost someone their _life_.

…

"First of all, in order for this to be fair, I have elected to bring in an audience to _vote_ on the winner," Miss Fall declared to the gathered students. "It will be a blind ballot, so no one can see who voted for what. Neo and Ruby, you two _may_ vote if you wish, but I won't require it."

Weiss glanced around and found the handful of students giving the art teacher their full attention.

"Second, I'm giving the two of you a much longer time frame than before – about two hours. Basically, the rest of us will watch a two-hour movie, and when it's finished you will be done."

The group nodded at the simple logic of the idea. Keep the audience busy, let the artists do their thing. Easy.

"Each of you will have one entire art room to yourselves, while the rest of us use the science room next door. I'm giving you both full, unrestricted access to all of the equipment in both rooms for your project."

Ruby started trembling next to Weiss, a grin on her face. Such freedom was quite rare in this class.

"And finally, I will have _no say_ in your subject for today. Create whatever you wish… and that will be what we judge. Any questions?"

Coco's hand went up, and the tall teen asked, "What movie are we watching?"

The teacher started twitching, her mouth pulling up into an evil grin as she fought back the cackling that threatened to erupt.

"Frozen."

Weiss could immediately sense a change in the room – nearly everyone suddenly wanted to bolt.

"Nobody. Is. Leaving."

The urge to flee was instantly gone, replaced by an icy terror. How the _hell_ does she _do_ that?

"Now… once we're gone, you two can begin. You have until we come back. Shall we…?"

Cinder Fall motioned towards the door and the gathered teens all stood, albeit without any spark of life, and walked out.

Including Weiss, there was also Blake and Yang, Coco and Velvet, and Jaune. That was the entire Art Club. The young Schnee had fully expected the teacher to invite a few more, but it was just the normal 8 today. If everyone voted, wasn't there a chance it would be a tie again?

If the other options were bad, a tie could result in a full-on _war._

Weiss _would not_ allow that to happen. Hopefully Miss Fall had a plan in place to prevent it – but then, this was Miss Fall she was talking about. The woman probably had contingency plans for an alien invasion.

Giving her girlfriend and her stalker one final look of encouragement, Weiss left them to their fate.

…

… … …

… … … … …

 _Clay Room – Ruby_

…

Miss Fall certainly didn't skimp when it came to supplies, even for a high school art class. Her selection of colored pencils was top-notch, both in variety and quality. This set would cost most people a small fortune. _Damn._

Ruby had to stop herself from staring at them and drooling. Sure there were tons of potential pictures she could make with these beauties, but right now she had to focus. Her future was on the line.

What was left of it, anyway.

Neo had barely glanced at her since walking into the room, and the midget didn't seem any better now. Ruby could see her through the windows of the office, sitting at her own desk and working with a large number of graphite pencils. Apparently her medium of choice was greyscale. Interesting.

Even though Neo didn't have a photo to work with, Ruby knew for a fact that she was bringing everything she had to this contest. It was only right that the redhead do the same. With that in mind, she pulled her secret weapon from her pocket before she started – a blending stump she'd been using for several years. There was _nothing_ better for blending colors together, or at least, nothing she'd ever had the chance to use.

But now was the hard part – what to draw?

Ruby hadn't walked into this contest with _nothing_ in mind – but leaving the options open like that did little to ease the teenager's anxiety. There were literally dozens of things she could do.

But then a smiling face came into her mind… a face with ice-blue eyes and platinum blonde hair.

And she knew.

Selecting the pencils she wanted to use, Ruby fell completely into the Zone. Nothing short of Cinder Fall herself would pull the girl out of it this time.

…

… … …

… … … … …

 _Science Room – Coco and Blake_

…

"So… who do _you_ think will win this… thing?"

"At this point, it's anyone's guess. We both know Ruby's got a lot of talent, but I don't think we've seen the full scope of Neo's skills."

"You mean, like, _'this isn't even my final form'_ …?"

"I wish it were that simple. By the way…"

"Yes?"

"What did you say to Ruby on Monday? Someone told me you spoke to her in private, but I was just curious…"

"Hmm… before I tell you, promise you won't spread this around, okay Blake?"

"Uh… okay?"

"When Neo was in the room back then, I recognized the look in her eyes. That girl was about a millimeter away from stabbing somebody."

"…And we left her _alone_ with Ruby?"

"She looked better today than Monday, but if Ruby had refused… I couldn't help but feel that someone would have gone home bleeding that day."

"If they went home at all…"

"Exactly."

"Should we tell Miss Fall…?"

"Normally I would say yes, but… I'm pretty sure she already knows. She did follow Neo after she left, you know."

"Does anything get past that woman?"

" _You mean like two students talking during a movie?"_

*gulp x2*

…

… … …

… … … … …

 _Flat Room – Neo_

…

Soulmate.

Not a soulmate.

Soulmate.

Not a soulmate.

Soulmate.

Weiss Schnee, youngest daughter of the Schnee Manufacturing Corporation president and brilliant high school student. Drop-dead gorgeous. Talented.

In love with someone else. In love with a peasant.

Not a soulmate.

Soulmate.

Not a soulmate.

Ruby Rose, child of nobody. A nobody. A peasant. A highly talented peasant. A divinely talented peasant. In love with a goddess.

Better than Weiss at drawing. _  
_Better than Weiss at. _  
_Better than Weiss. _  
_Better than. _  
_Better.

Not a soulmate.

Soulmate.

Not a soulmate.

Weiss Schnee. _  
_Ruby Rose.

Soulmate. _  
_Not a soulmate. _  
_Soulmate.

…

Neo's hands moved on their own. Her mind was running in two completely different directions at once.

The Zone did all the work. The Zone knew what needed to come out. The Zone was all she wanted.

Half of her brain was deep in the Zone, running the motor functions and producing the drawing that would, if the gods willed it, return her goddess to her side.

The other half was stuck in a loop, trying and failing to grasp the concept that was Weiss Schnee… and Ruby Rose… and who they were.

Soulmate? Not? Either one?

Was there a point to any of it…?

…

… … …

… … … … …

 _Science Room – Weiss and Velvet_

…

"Is it weird that I actually _like_ this movie?"

"Considering who I'm talking to, not at all…"

"Heh… Hans is a _douche."_

"You actually know what a _douche_ is? I am shock."

"…"

"I know what's really on _your_ mind."

"Is it that obvious?"

"Girl, everyone in this _room_ can tell what you're thinking… and the lights are _off_. Just relax, enjoy the event. They'll be fine."

"I can't just… relax."

"… … …Something happened with your Dad, didn't it?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, yes."

"Let me guess… he found out you're gay for Ruby and wants you to break it off… to save his own image…?"

"…Are you _sure_ you're not psychic?"

"Well, I _was_ sure a minute ago…"

"Yeah, that's pretty much the gist of it. No matter who wins today, someone's gonna lose. Bad."

"Weiss, it seems to me that there's nothing you can do to change things. That means all you _can_ do is wait and trust in Ruby. Has she let you down yet?"

"Well, …no."

"Then that's the end of it. If you really love her, then you'll just have to trust that things will work out for the best."

"… … …Thanks, Velvet."

"Anytime, Ice Queen."

"…I'm gonna find out who came up with that nickname and lock them inside a walk-in freezer."

…

… … …

… … … … …

 _Two hours later_

…

The time had come.

For the first time in her life, Cinder Fall was rendered speechless by the work of her students. Two of them, if we're being picky.

Oddly, both had elected to draw Weiss Schnee. And both works presented vastly different styles.

Neo's drawing was true-to-life, in every sense of the phrase. Even though she elected to use graphite only, a choice that left the entire picture in greyscale, it was still beautiful. The texture of the paper had been used to full effect in giving the model's clothes a lifelike feel, while careful blending techniques left everything else as smooth as butter. It was, in Cinder's experience, one of the best pencil drawings she had ever laid eyes on – and considering Ruby was in her class, that was saying something.

Ruby's drawing, however, was nothing short of a _masterpiece._

Unlike Neo's drawing, Ruby chose to put Weiss just a little off-center of the paper, giving the viewer a marvelous view of a near- _perfect_ sunset sky. Even looking as close as possible, Cinder _could not tell_ that she was looking at a colored-pencil piece. It was beyond impressive. _Well_ beyond.

The model herself was almost photo-realistic in color and shading, but Ruby chose to draw her with an interesting expression: A warm smile.

For Weiss Schnee, such a smile had _never_ been seen in public.

If she was being honest, Cinder had been giving Ruby more than a little unfair treatment ever since school started. A little bit of a teacher's pet. This _did_ sway her opinion during the former two contests a little, but not much.

Looking at these two drawings, Cinder Fall was glad she roped in a voting audience – choosing between them herself would be nothing less than a death sentence.

Voting was the easy part – two cardboard boxes, each with 'Neo' and 'Ruby' written on them, sat in the office. One by one, each student would take a ping-pong ball and place it in the box of their choice, then walk back. Once done, Cinder would count the balls and declare a winner.

She had already made a point to only bring 9 balls, to keep herself from cheating. The temptation was far too strong.

After everyone had voted (Ruby and Neo included), the final tally was given:

Neo: 4 _  
_Ruby: 5

A difference of one vote. _Shit._

Most of the students gave Ruby a round of applause, but Cinder could see the conflicting emotions in the redhead's face, as well as in Weiss'. Neo simply looked like her battery had run dry – someone would probably have to carry her out of the room.

Cinder muttered a congratulations as she gathered her things to leave, trying not to look too anxious.

Upon pain of death, she would _never_ confess that she had cast the deciding vote. _Never._

But she had to go, now… before someone noticed her jitters.

…

… … …

… … … … …

It took a bit of convincing to get both Yang and Weiss to leave the room first, but eventually Ruby managed to find herself alone in the classroom with Neo. The girl hadn't moved an inch since the results were given, and it was starting to scare her.

Ruby started to say something, then stopped. Nothing she could say would help. There was no form of 'sorry you lost' that could defuse this situation.

In a way, she could _kind of_ understand how Neo was feeling. It hadn't been that long ago that she was also ready to do something drastic after she kissed Weiss without permission.

Admittedly, they no longer had an issue with that now, but that was beside the point.

Rather than try and think of something deep or clever, Ruby chose to simply speak her mind. You can't be wrong if it's the truth, after all.

"If it makes you feel any better, Neo… I voted for your picture."

And she did, too. Ruby had never seen such… _magnificent_ details in a pencil drawing. It was a level of skill Ruby herself had aspired to for quite some time.

Upon hearing those words, Neo finally turned her head and stared at Ruby. She still didn't say anything, nor did she blink… she just stared.

Ruby swallowed hard, wondering if she could handle knowing what was going on behind those unblinking brown eyes.

With an awkward wave, Ruby let herself out.

She also sent up a silent prayer that Neo would be okay.

…

… … …

… … … … …

 _I voted for your picture._

 _I voted for your picture._

 _I voted for your._

 _I voted for._

 _I voted._

 _Your picture.  
Your picture.  
Your picture._

Ruby Rose, child of nobody. A nobody. A peasant.

A glorious, glorious peasant.

 _I voted for your picture._

Weiss Schnee, brilliant high school student. In love with someone else.

In love with a goddess.

 _I voted for your picture._

Weiss Schnee. _  
_Ruby Rose. _  
_Weiss Schnee. _  
_Ruby Rose. _  
_Ruby Rose. _  
_Ruby Rose.

 _I voted for your picture._

…

…

 _She fell backwards, her glasses clattering to the tile floor. They stood over her and laughed. They always laughed. She winced, rubbing the back of her head where it hit the wall. It would be sore for a few days._

 _She wanted to die._

 _She didn't belong here, in this school. In this world of high-class snobs. In this world of lords and ladies. She was a mere peasant. A nobody._

 _Bright, platinum blonde hair and ice-blue eyes that smiled as she looked at her artwork. An angel. A goddess. Someone to worship. Someone to revere. A soulmate._

…

…

Not a soulmate.

Soulmate.

Not a soulmate.

Ruby Rose Not a Soulmate Weiss Schnee Soulmate Ruby Rose Not a Soulmate Weiss Schnee Soulmate Ruby Rose Not a Soulmate Weiss Schnee Soulmate Ruby Rose Soulmate Weiss Schnee Not a Soulmate Ruby Rose Soulmate Weiss Schnee Not a Soulmate Ruby Rose Ruby Rose Ruby Rose Ruby Ruby Ruby Ruby Rubyrubyrubyrubyruby…

…

…

" _You don't belong here, small fry."  
"Short-round-short-round!"  
"Anyone ever tell you you're crazy?"  
"Look at the peasant, trying to look important!"  
"You should just kill yourself and save us all the pain of looking at you."  
"You don't belong here…"  
"Look at the peasant…"  
"You should just kill yourself…"  
"You don't belong…"  
"Peasant…"  
"Kill yourself…"  
"Kill yourself…"  
"KILL YOURSELF! ! !"_

…

…!

Neo's hands were shaking as she looked around, with no clue as to how she got here.

It was her bedroom, but it looked …odd. Like her vantage point was much too high.

Oh, that's why – she was standing on a chair.

In her hands was a belt, somehow attached to her ceiling fan. Huh… wonder why?

Her eyes burned, like she'd been crying. A lot.

As she watched, her hands moved to place the belt around her head, settling it over her neck. She was powerless to stop it. To stop herself.

 _No…_

She felt her feet begin shifting, moving to carry her off of the chair… but her trip to the floor would be cut short. She knew that much.

 _No… not like this…_

Time seemed to slow down as her weight left the safety of the chair. The belt seemed to tighten around her neck in slow motion.

 _NOOOOOOO… … …!_

"HRK-!"

That was it, then.

It was over.

As her vision began to fade to black around the edges, Neo tried to think of her goddess… but nothing came. She'd been abandoned.

"… … … … …

"… …

"…"

 _(…I voted for your picture…)_

And just like that, Neo got her will to live back.

Her hands shot up under the belt as she managed to drag herself up, then quickly struggled to free herself. She dropped to the floor, the belt forgotten, the chair forgotten. Coughing hard, straining for precious air.

 _(…I voted for your picture…)_

The tears were flowing freely as Neo crawled on hands and knees, too weak to even stand. She coughed a bit more, rubbing her neck gingerly.

The card was still in her pocket.

 _(…I voted for your picture…)_

She almost missed most of the buttons due to her hands trembling so hard. In time, however, the dial tone came through. The voice of another human came next, promising both deliverance and damnation.

 _(…If it makes you feel any better, Neo… I voted for your picture…)_

"I *cough* …just tried to… k-k-kill… myself…" *cough, cough*

"… … … _h-h-help_ …"

Neo's voice failed as the tiny teenager curled up in the fetal position and sobbed herself into unconsciousness.

She couldn't do it.

She couldn't go through with it… because it would make Ruby sad.

…

She had no idea when Miss Fall arrived, but with the help of her father, they both got her to the hospital.

…

Once she woke up again, the doctors mentioned that she had been mumbling the name 'Ruby' in her sleep.

It would be the last name she ever spoke.

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

… … …

… … … … …

 _One Week Later…_

…

Weiss really didn't want to think about Neo, but the short girl came to her mind _every single time_ she came back to the art room this week. There was simply no escaping it.

Guilt was hard to cope with.

As far as she was concerned, Weiss was the reason Ruby and Neo had been battling it out (so to speak) ever since Neo first came to this school. While she did not, and _would_ not, regret her decision to accept Ruby as her girlfriend, Weiss did feel regret that she hadn't properly cut her ties with Neo… no doubt that was the main cause of the poor girl's fragile state of mind.

It never occurred to her back then that Neo had been getting bullied, but considering how she used to look it was a wonder that Weiss could be so clueless. The midget practically had a target painted on her back from day one.

Once Neo dyed half of her hair pink and changed her attitude, the bullying seemed to stop.

Either that, or the bullies mysteriously 'vanished.' Weiss wasn't paying any attention at the time.

Miss Fall had thankfully chosen to cancel the Art Club meeting today, due to Neo's …issue. She'd been working closely with the girl all week, and things seemed to be looking up lately.

And all week, Miss Fall had avoided giving them any updates – but she agreed to spill the beans today. She could barely wait until the rest of the Art Club made it in before telling them.

"Well, I have good news and bad news about our diminutive friend…" she started.

Yang gave a confused grunt, "Our… what, now?"

" _Small,"_ Blake muttered.

"Oh," came the awkward reply.

"First, the good news: Neo is mostly recovered and has been cleared to come back to classes starting next week. I've been helping rehabilitate her this past week and she's made significant progress… both physically _and_ mentally."

"That's the _good_ news?" Coco jabbed good-naturedly. Velvet merely elbowed her in the ribs.

"The bad news, though, is that her… _injury_ … has left her without a voice. The damage was too severe to repair with anything short of major surgery, and she insisted that she could function without it."

Three or four listeners gasped at the news. Neo was… mute? Hard to imagine.

"Again… how's that the _bad_ new- _OOF! !_ " Coco's jab was cut off by Velvet's fist to her gut. Served her right.

"So that's the deal. Neo's quieter, but better and she'll be back next-"

The door to the classroom was thrown open, cutting off all further discussion. Neopolitan had walked into the room, bring all her old swagger back with her. Weiss could almost see her bowing to a cheering audience as she sauntered her way in, grinning at each member of the Art Club in turn.

The young Schnee also noted that the girl's eyes had returned to their normal, heterochromatic look. Oddly, she'd chosen to wear one white contact lens today.

Other than that, there were no snide remarks, and no greetings. Weiss felt that she might miss that. A little, anyway.

"Hey… Neo… How are… no, wait… you okay?" Ruby was the first to greet the pink-and-brown midget, awkwardly scratching the back of her head as she tried to keep her question to a yes-or-no.

Neo gave Ruby a nod and a beaming smile.

Weiss felt a chill go down her spine. She _knew_ that smile – Neo usually saved it for when she looked as Weiss. But now it was aimed at Ruby.

Should that worry her?

"You're not due back until Monday, Neo," Miss Fall stated from her desk. "To what do we owe this honor?"

Neo's smile turned into a grin. She pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket, then looked around the room with a steady gaze. Settling for Velvet, the tiny girl strode over to her and handed over the note.

"What's this?" Velvet wondered out loud.

Neo held up one finger, then sauntered back over and stood squarely between Ruby and Weiss – her back to the former and facing the latter.

"Uh-oh…" Coco mumbled.

From her position, Neo gestured towards Velvet. The bespectacled girl finally looked at the letter and noticed words written on the outside. " _'Please read this out loud'_ …? Okay…"

A few seconds ticked by as the paper was unfolded. Neo's eyes never left Weiss'.

"Let's see… uh… _'Weiss Schnee, I have come to take my soulmate back from your evil clutches. Ruby is… MINE?!'"_

In that moment, the world broke.

"What the f-" _  
_"Holy sh-" _  
_"Is she serious-" _  
_"This is _priceless-"  
_ "BWAHAHAHA-" _  
_"Weiss has a rival-" _  
_" _What_ is going on-"

Everyone started bursting out in shouts and cries at the same time, resulting in complete chaos throughout the room… yet Neo's gaze never left Weiss'. The young Schnee could tell that the midget was totally serious about her declaration.

And Miss Fall said she was getting _better?_

"Uhh… Neo? Are you serious right… now…?" Ruby started saying something, but all she managed to do was cause the tiny girl to turn and give the redhead her brightest, most adoring smile ever. It left the taller of the two rather speechless.

Weiss had never considered _this_ outcome. Of all the ways their contest could be settled, she only expected one or the other to try and make _her_ their own… not _each other._

Was it weird that she felt… a bit left out?

While her focus was diverted, Weiss missed the moment when Neo took one of Ruby's hands in her own and bowed down (not far, just a short one) to kiss it. Rare was the day when Weiss could see Ruby turn such a wonderful shade of scarlet.

But then, just when Weiss thought things couldn't get any stranger…

 _BAM!_ "Get away from _my Ruby! !"_

Everyone in the room slowly turned to behold the newest intruder to the art room: ginger hair in a bob cut, long white sleeves, black pants, and angry green eyes.

Ruby stuttered first, sounding like she was soon to fall apart, "P-P-Penny? What are you d-d-doing here?"

Yes, that was her name – Penny Polendina. Supposedly a student at Shawcross High… across town.

"I have successfully transferred myself to Oum High School, effective Monday… but I could not wait! I had to come see you – and look what I walk in on…!"

Penny marched in, ignoring the stares of both students and teacher (and all of their dropped jaws), and quickly pulled Ruby away from Neo.

The level of tension in the room instantly skyrocketed. Penny and Neo's eyes practically shot sparks at each other as both seemed determined to win over the only redhead in the room.

Weiss could feel her self-control slipping. She could feel that same, inhuman howl building up in her throat. While it was true that she needed to let go of Ruby (or earn her father's undying wrath), this was _not_ the acceptable way to do so.

Neo approached Penny, made some sort of sign with her hands, then made to pull Ruby away from the ginger girl.

Penny seemed to understand, since she cried, "I am _not…!_ You take that back!" She also didn't budge in inch.

The Jealous Gay Screeching was so very close to erupting from Weiss' mouth… _Why won't they just let go of MY girlfriend?_

Ruby, meanwhile, was simply trying to keep breathing from within Penny's iron grip. _"…Help… me…"_ was all she could manage.

…

… … …

… … … … …

Coco, it should be noted, had been laughing her fool head off ever since Neo's written declaration. It only got worse when Penny walked in. By now, she was close to passing out on the floor. Velvet was standing over her, shaking her head in disappointment.

"Oh, God…" she gasped between bouts of laughing, "…And they call _me_ the school pimp…!"

…

… … …

… … … … …

TO

BE

CONTINUED

… … … … …

… … …

…

* * *

 **A/N: Ain't I a stinker? :)**

 _ **What?**_ **After such a downer moment, I just wanted to end the arc on a more lighthearted note. Sure she's got a lot more problems to …work through… but isn't that just part of the fun?**

 **Oh, and just as a teaser… while the second arc focused on Neo, the third arc will focus on Neptune. Look forward to it!**

 **Later!**

 **=^w^=**


End file.
